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Asia stocks mostly fell Monday in jittery holiday trade ahead of a potentially tumultuous 2025 when Donald Trump returns to the White House.With volumes thin, US and European equity futures were also pointing lower after losses on Friday that put paid to Wall Street’s usual holiday period “Santa Claus rally”.Tech stocks had led the way, with Elon Musk’s electric car giant Tesla shedding around five percent lower and AI chipmaker Nvidia off around two percent.Weighing on sentiment were worries about slower-than-hoped US interest rate cuts and possible higher import tariffs once Trump is inaugurated on January 20.”With US (bond) yields climbing and liquidity essentially non-existent, there’s always the potential for outsized moves,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.”This comes during a critical phase of year-end rebalancing, intensified by hefty equity positions across portfolios,” Innes said in a note.Tokyo, on its last day of trading until January 6, fell almost one percent.Nissan slipped as much as 6.7 percent on worries about its mooted merger with fellow Japanese automaker Honda.Overall the Nikkei 225 index gained almost 20 percent in 2024, finally surpassing the high seen before Japan’s asset bubble burst in the 1990s.The yen was little changed after hitting 157.89 against the dollar on Thursday, the lowest in almost six months.That came after Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda failed to give a clear signal on a possible interest rate increase next month.In Seoul, Jeju Air shares fell as much as 15 percent after one of its planes crashed in South Korea on Sunday, killing 179 people.Another Jeju Air flight had to return after encountering a landing gear problem on Monday, the airline said.Korean authorities ordered an inspection of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s carriers.South Korea was also hit with further political turmoil, with authorities issuing an arrest warrant for suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol after his declaration of martial law.Seoul, Hong Kong, Taipei, Sydney and Manila were all in the red. Shanghai was one of the few gainers, along with Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.China’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for manufacturing is due on Tuesday. The reading was expected to stay at 50.3, above the 50 line dividing expansion and contraction, according to Bloomberg.- Key figures around 0830 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.0 percent at 39,894.54 points (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.2 percent at 20,041.42 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,407.33Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0426 from $1.0429 on FridayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2574 from $1.2579Dollar/yen: UP at 157.92 yen from 157.89 yenEuro/pound: UP at 82.91 pence from 82.87 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.1 percent at $70.50 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.1 percent at $74.07 per barrel

Asia stocks mostly fell in thin holiday trade on Monday after tech losses killed off the traditional year-end lift on Wall Street at the end of last week.The “Santa Claus rally” got off to a good start but US stocks then fell across the board on Friday, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both dropping more than one percent.Tech stocks led the way, with Elon Musk’s electric car giant Tesla closing around five percent lower and AI chipmaker Nvidia shedding around two percent.Weighing on investor sentiment were worries about the pace of US interest rate cuts and possible higher import tariffs under incoming US president Donald Trump.”As US stock markets concluded with a downturn on Friday, Asia-Pacific markets are bracing for a slippery penultimate trading day of 2024,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.”With US (bond) yields climbing and liquidity essentially non-existent, there’s always the potential for outsized moves. This comes during a critical phase of year-end rebalancing, intensified by hefty equity positions across portfolios,” Innes said in a note.In Tokyo, the Nikkei was down 0.75 percent at 40,020.00 points on the last day of trading until January 6.The yen was little changed after hitting 158.08 against the dollar on Thursday, the lowest in almost six months.That came after Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda failed to give a clear signal on a possible interest rate increase next month.In Seoul, Jeju Air shares tumbled more than eight percent after one of its planes crashed in South Korea on Sunday, killing all but two of the 181 people on board.South Korea’s transport ministry said on Monday it was “reviewing plans to conduct a special inspection on (Boeing) B737-800 aircraft” after the crash.South Korea was also hit with further political turmoil, with authorities issuing an arrest warrant for suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol.Yoon briefly imposed martial law this month and was then impeached by parliament. Lawmakers also impeached his acting successor Han Duck-soo last week.Chinese stocks also opened lower on Monday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 0.09 percent at 3,397.12.China’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for manufacturing was due on Tuesday. The reading was expected to stay at 50.3, above the 50 line dividing expansion and contraction, according to Bloomberg. – Key figures around 0300 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.75 percent at 40,020.00 pointsHong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.40 percent at 20,001.00Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,397.12Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0423 from $1.0429 on FridayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2577 from $1.2579Dollar/yen: DOWN at 157.82 yen from 157.89 yenEuro/pound: UP at 82.88 pence from 82.87 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP at $70.63 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP at $74.23 per barrel

After South Korea’s president and his replacement were both deposed over a failed bid to impose martial law, deepening political turmoil is threatening the country’s currency and shaking confidence in its economy.The won, which plunged Friday to its lowest level against the dollar since 2009, has been in near-constant decline since President Yoon Suk Yeol’s attempt to scrap civilian rule in early December.Business and consumer confidence in Asia’s fourth-largest economy have also taken their biggest hit since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to figures released by the Bank of Korea.Lawmakers impeached Yoon in mid-December on charges of insurrection, and on Friday they impeached his successor, acting president and prime minister Han Duck-soo, arguing that he refused demands to complete Yoon’s removal from office and bring him to justice.That thrust Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok into the additional roles of acting president and prime minister.Choi has pledged to do all he can to end “this period of turmoil” and resolve the political crisis gripping the country.- Constitutional question –At the heart of the stalemate is the Constitutional Court, which will decide whether to uphold parliament’s decision to impeach Yoon.It must do so by a two-thirds majority, however. And because three of the court’s nine seats are currently vacant, a unanimous vote is required to confirm the suspended president’s removal.Otherwise, Yoon will be automatically returned to office.Lawmakers on Thursday nominated three judges to fill the vacant seats, but acting president Han refused to approve them, precipitating his own impeachment.After an acrimonious day in which lawmakers from Yoon’s party erupted in protest, the country’s newest acting president sought to project calm.”Although we are facing unexpected challenges once again, we are confident that our robust and resilient economic system will ensure rapid stabilisation,” Choi said Friday.The 61-year-old career civil servant has inherited a 2025 budget — adopted by the opposition alone — which is 4.1 trillion won ($2.8 billion) less than the government had hoped for.”There are already signs the crisis is having an impact on the economy,” Gareth Leather of Capital Economics wrote in a note to clients, citing the dip in consumer and business confidence. “The crisis is unfolding against a backdrop of a struggling economy,” he added, with GDP growth expected to be just two percent this year, weighed down by a global slowdown in demand for semiconductors.”Longer term, political polarisation and resulting uncertainty could hold back investment in Korea,” Leather wrote, citing the example of Thailand, another ultra-polarised country whose economy has stagnated since a coup in 2014.- Democratic resilience? – But other economists noted that the South Korean economy has so far weathered the chaos well.As early as December 4, the day after Yoon declared martial law following a budget tussle with the opposition, the central bank promised to inject sufficient liquidity to stabilise the markets, and the Kospi Index has lost less than four percent since the start of the crisis. “Like everyone, I was surprised when Yoon took those crazy measures,” Park Sang-in, a professor of economics at Seoul National University, told AFP. “But there was a resilience of democracy.””We come from being an underdeveloped country to one of the world’s most dynamic economies in very few years, and Yoon Suk Yeol is a side effect of the growth,” he added.”Korean society was mature enough to counter his crazy actions.”

Authorities in Brazil said Friday they were probing Chinese auto giant BYD and one of its contractors for suspected “trafficking” of Chinese workers who were building a factory in the South American country.Federal prosecutors in Brazil are weighing possible criminal action after labor inspectors found 163 Chinese workers “in slave-like conditions” at the construction site in the northeast state of Bahia, a government statement said.The workers, employed by BYD contractor Jinjiang Open Engineering, were viewed as “victims of international trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation,” said the statement.A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman in Beijing, Mao Ning, said: “We have noted the relevant reports… and are currently verifying the situation.”She added that Beijing “attaches great importance to protecting laborers’ legitimate rights and interests, and has always required Chinese enterprises to operate in line with the law and regulations.”On Thursday, BYD and Jinjiang were quizzed by Brazilian government ministries, which said “the companies committed to collaborate in protecting the rescued workers.”- Allegations denied -On Monday, Brazilian officials said they had found labor violations at the site, which is being built to be BYD’s largest electric car plant outside of Asia. Bahia’s regional ministry for works (MPT) ordered construction to be suspended at part of the site.Inspections carried out since November found “degrading working conditions,” including beds in workers’ accommodation lacking mattresses, and one bathroom per 31 workers, an MPT statement said.The workers, who spent long hours under the sun, had “visible signs of skin damage,” the statement said.The MPT added that it suspected “forced labor,” with workers’ passports confiscated and their employer “retaining 60 percent of their salary.”After the allegations were made public, BYD’s Brazilian subsidiary said it had broken its contract with the Jinjiang subsidiary responsible for work on the site. It added that it had sent the 163 workers to stay in hotels.BYD spokesperson Li Yunfei blasted the allegations of human trafficking in a post made to his personal Weibo social media account on Thursday.”In terms of smearing Chinese brands, smearing China and attempting to damage the China-Brazil friendship, we have seen how the relevant foreign forces maliciously collaborate and engage in deliberate smearing,” Li wrote in his post.Jinjiang on Thursday — in a statement issued before the online hearing with Brazilian authorities — denied the slavery allegation.The company said the accusations “seriously damaged the dignity of Chinese people” and claimed it “made our staff feel seriously insulted and that their human rights have been violated.”Brazilian authorities said they were requiring Jinjiang to take the 163 workers to the police to register them in Brazil’s tax system so they could be properly paid.They also said the company must ensure that seven of the workers due to return to China on January 1 are given air tickets and $120 in travel expenses.The Brazilian authorities said a new hearing was set for January 7 for the companies to present their remedies for the labor violations that were identified.

Hopes for a Santa Claus rally on Wall Street fell Friday as tech stocks slid lower, while a weaker yen lifted Japanese equities.US indices slumped to end the holiday week, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite losing 1.5 percent.Shares in Tesla were closed around 5.0 percent lower, while those in AI chipmaker Nvidia shed around 2.0 percent.Wall Street stocks have historically performed well around the year-end holidays in what is popularly known as a Santa Claus rally.A Christmas Eve jump in equities got the Santa rally off to a flying start and indices barely budged in Thursday trading.Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare also pointed to an increase in 10-year US Treasury bond yields to around 4.6 percent, which he noted is a rise of nearly 0.9 percentage points since the US Federal Reserve made its first recent interest rate cut in September.”The Fed doesn’t hold sway over longer-dated maturities like it does over shorter-dated securities, so the bump in rates at the back end of the curve is being watched with an anxious eye as a possible harbinger of a pickup in inflation and/or the budget deficit,” O’Hare said.Wall Street stocks took a knock earlier this month when the Fed indicated it would likely cut interest rates less than it had previously expected to.That was in part because of uncertainty tied to President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to raise import tariffs, which could boost inflation that is already proving sticky.In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei index closed up nearly two percent, with the yen’s recent weakness proving a boon for major exporters. The yen hit 158.08 per US dollar on Thursday evening — its lowest in almost six months — following comments made by Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda that failed to give a clear signal on a possible interest rate increase next month.Recent data has showed Japan’s inflation rose for a second month in December, while industrial production declined less than expected in November and retail sales came in higher than estimated last month.Japan’s government also on Friday approved a record budget for the next fiscal year, ramping up spending on social welfare for its ageing population and on defense to tackle regional threats.In Seoul, the stock market closed down one percent after the won plunged to a nearly 16-year low of 1,487.03 against the dollar on Friday morning.South Korea is struggling to emerge from political turbulence in the wake of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law declaration this month, which prompted his impeachment.Acting President Han Duck-soo was also impeached Friday in a vote that prompted governing party lawmakers to protest with angry chants and raised fists.South Korea’s business outlook for January fell in the Bank of Korea’s composite sentiment index, the biggest month-on-month slide since April 2020, according to data based on almost 3,300 firms released Friday.In Europe, Frankfurt’s DAX index rose after German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier dissolved parliament on Friday and confirmed the expected date for the early general election, emphasizing the need for “political stability” in Europe’s largest economy.- Key figures around 2115 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 0.8 percent at 42,992.21 (close)New York – S&P 500: DOWN 1.1 percent at 5,970.84 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 1.5 percent at 19,722.03 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 8,149.78 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 1.0 percent at 7,355.37 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.7 percent at 19,984.32 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.8 percent at 40,281.16 points (close)Seoul – Kospi: DOWN 1.0 percent at 2,404.77 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.1 percent at 20,116.93 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 3,400.14 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0429 from $1.0424 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2579 from $1.2526Dollar/yen: DOWN at 157.89 yen from 158.00 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 82.87 pence from 83.19 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 1.4 percent at $70.60 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 1.2 percent at $74.17 per barrelburs-rl/rlp/bys/sms

Montenegro said Friday it will extradite to the United States the South Korean cryptocurrency specialist Do Kwon, who is also wanted by Seoul for the multi-billion-dollar bankruptcy of his company, Terraform Labs.His lawyers denounced the decision as illegal and contrary to European conventions on extradition.For months, Seoul and Washington have been seeking the South Korean’s extradition for his suspected role in a fraud linked to his company’s failure, which wiped out about $40 billion of investors’ money and shook global crypto markets.Justice Minister Bojan Bozovic “issued a decision approving the extradition of the accused, Kwon Do Hyung, to the United States of America,” the justice ministry said, referring to him by his full name.The decision followed a year and a half of court rulings and subsequent reversals regarding his extradition.”It was concluded that the majority of the criteria prescribed by law favour the extradition request” from the United States, the ministry added in a statement.The crypto tycoon was arrested in March 2023 at the airport in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital, while preparing to board a flight to Dubai, in possession of a fake Costa Rican passport.Before his arrest, he had been on the run for months, fleeing South Korea and later Singapore, before his company went bankrupt in 2022.- ‘Stablecoin’ collapse -After a series of rulings by the Montenegrin courts, approving and then cancelling extradition requests, the country’s Constitutional Court lifted the final hurdle on Tuesday.It said in a ruling that previous proceedings “ensured the appellant’s right to a fair trial and did not raise concerns about a possible violation of the right to family life”.The court also said that Kwon, during the hearing, “personally consented to expedited extradition to both the Republic of South Korea and the United States”.Kwon’s Montenegrin lawyers, Marija Radulovic and Goran Rodic, said in a statement to AFP that they had not been provided with the ministry’s full decision.They called that “a drastic violation of Do Kwon’s fundamental human rights, namely the right to defence and the right to appeal”.Montenegro had already deported Kwon’s business partner — identified only by his initials J.C.H. — to South Korea in early February.Terraform Labs created a cryptocurrency called TerraUSD that was marketed as a “stablecoin”, a token that is pegged to stable assets such as the US dollar to prevent drastic fluctuations.Do Kwon successfully marketed them as the next big thing in crypto, attracting billions in investments and global hype.Media reports in South Korea described him as a “genius”.But despite billions in investments, TerraUSD and its sister token Luna went into a death spiral in May 2022.Experts said Kwon had set up a glorified Ponzi scheme, in which many investors lost their life savings.He left South Korea before the crash and spent months on the run.In January, Terraform Labs officially sought bankruptcy protection in the United States.The bankruptcy filing would allow Terraform “to execute on its business plan while navigating ongoing legal proceedings, including representative litigation pending in Singapore and US litigation involving the Securities and Exchange Commission”, the company said in a statement.It said it also intended to “meet all financial obligations to employees and vendors”.Cryptocurrencies have come under increasing scrutiny from regulators after a string of controversies in recent years, including the high-profile collapse of the exchange FTX.

Montenegro will extradite to the United States South Korean cryptocurrency specialist Do Kwon, who is also wanted by Seoul for the multi-billion-dollar bankruptcy of his company, Terraform Labs, the Montenegrin Justice Ministry announced on Friday.For months, Seoul and Washington have been seeking the South Korean’s extradition for his suspected role in a fraud linked to his company’s failure, which wiped out about $40 billion of investors’ money and shook global crypto markets.”The Minister of Justice, Bojan Bozovic, issued a decision approving the extradition of the accused, Kwon Do Hyung, to the United States of America,” the Ministry of Justice announced, following a year and a half of dizzying court rulings and subsequent reversals regarding his extradition.”It was concluded that the majority of the criteria prescribed by law favour the extradition request from the competent authorities of the United States of America,” the Ministry added in a statement.The crypto tycoon was arrested in March 2023 at the airport in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital, while preparing to board a flight to Dubai, in possession of a fake Costa Rican passport.Before his arrest, he had been on the run for months, fleeing South Korea and later Singapore, before his company went bankrupt in 2022.After a series of rulings by the Montenegrin courts, approving and then cancelling extradition requests, the country’s Constitutional Court lifted the final hurdle on Tuesday.”The Constitutional Court concluded that the procedure preceding the constitutional review was conducted in a manner that ensured the appellant’s right to a fair trial and did not raise concerns about a possible violation of the right to family life,” states the decision published on the Constitutional Court’s website on December 24th.The court also emphasized that Kwon, during the hearing, “personally consented to expedited extradition to both the Republic of South Korea and the United States.”Montenegro has already deported Kwon’s business partner — identified only by his initials J.C.H. — to South Korea in early February.Terraform Labs created a cryptocurrency called TerraUSD that was marketed as a “stablecoin”, a token that is pegged to stable assets such as the US dollar to prevent drastic fluctuations.Do Kwon successfully marketed them as the next big thing in crypto, attracting billions in investments and global hype.Media reports in South Korea described him as a “genius”.But despite billions in investments, TerraUSD and its sister token Luna went into a death spiral in May 2022.Experts said Kwon had set up a glorified Ponzi scheme, in which many investors lost their life savings.He left South Korea before the crash and spent months on the run.In January, Terraform Labs officially sought bankruptcy protection in the United States.The bankruptcy filing would allow Terraform “to execute on its business plan while navigating ongoing legal proceedings, including representative litigation pending in Singapore and US litigation involving the Securities and Exchange Commission”, the company said in a statement.It said it also intended to “meet all financial obligations to employees and vendors”.Cryptocurrencies have come under increasing scrutiny from regulators after a string of controversies in recent years, including the high-profile collapse of the exchange FTX.

A weaker yen lifted Japanese equities on Friday, while Wall Street’s major indices slid in quiet holiday trading. Seoul was an outlier in Asia with shares plunging as South Korea’s political crisis deepened with a second presidential impeachment vote.US indices slid lower at the start of trading, with the Dow shedding 0.6 percent.”Holiday lethargy is to blame indirectly, yet a more direct weight is the modest weakness among the mega-cap stocks,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.He also pointed to an increase in 10-year US Treasury bond yields to around 4.6 percent, which he noted is an increase of nearly 0.9 percentage points since the US Federal Reserve made its first interest rate cut in September.”The Fed doesn’t hold sway over longer-dated maturities like it does over shorter-dated securities, so the bump in rates at the back end of the curve is being watched with an anxious eye as a possible harbinger of a pickup in inflation and/or the budget deficit,” O’Hare said.Wall Street stocks took a knock earlier this month when the Fed indicated it would likely cut interest rates less than it had previously expected to, in part because of uncertainty tied to the stated intention of incoming president Donald Trump to raise tariffs, which could boost inflation that is already proving sticky.In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei index closed up nearly two percent, with the yen’s recent weakness proving a boon for major exporters. The yen hit 158.08 per US dollar on Thursday evening — its lowest in almost six months — following comments made by Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda that failed to give a clear signal on a possible interest rate increase next month.The BoJ left borrowing costs unchanged last week and warned of uncertainty over the economic policies of US president-elect Donald Trump.”Today, the yen looks stronger on the back of a freshly released set of stronger-than-expected data,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, analyst at Swissquote Bank.Recent data has showed Japan’s inflation rose for a second month in December, while industrial production declined less than expected in November and retail sales came in higher than estimated last month.Japan’s government also on Friday approved a record budget for the next fiscal year, ramping up spending on social welfare for its ageing population and on defence to tackle regional threats.In Seoul, the stock market closed down one percent after the won plunged to a nearly 16-year low of 1,487.03 against the dollar on Friday morning.South Korea is struggling to emerge from political turbulence in the wake of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law declaration this month, which prompted his impeachment.Acting President Han Duck-soo was also impeached Friday in a vote that prompted governing party lawmakers to protest with angry chants and raised fists.South Korea’s business outlook for January fell in the Bank of Korea’s composite sentiment index, the biggest month-on-month slide since April 2020, according to data based on almost 3,300 firms released Friday.In Europe, Frankfurt’s DAX index rose after German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier dissolved parliament on Friday and confirmed the expected date for the early general election, emphasising the need for “political stability” in Europe’s largest economy.- Key figures around 1430 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 0.6 percent at 43,076.65New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.6 percent at 5,999.29New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.7 percent at 19,871.28London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 8,129.61Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.5 percent at 7,322.01Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.4 percent at 19,937.72Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.8 percent at 40,281.16 points (close)Seoul – Kospi: DOWN 1.0 percent at 2,404.77 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.1 percent at 20,116.93 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 3,400.14 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0431 from $1.0424 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2560 from $1.2526Dollar/yen: DOWN at 157.75 yen from 158.00 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 83.05 pence from 83.19 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 1.1 percent at $70.41 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 1.0 percent at $73.60 per barrelburs-rl/js

Global stocks mostly rose on Friday, as European markets returned from the Christmas break tracking Asia gains after a weaker yen lifted Japanese equities.Seoul was an outlier in Asia with shares plunging as South Korea’s political crisis deepened with a second impeachment vote.In Europe, Frankfurt’s DAX index rose after German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier dissolved parliament on Friday and confirmed the expected date for the early general election, emphasising the need for “political stability” in Europe’s largest economy.London was flat and Paris gained.Japan’s Nikkei index closed up nearly two percent, with the yen’s recent weakness proving a boon for major exporters. The yen hit 158.08 per US dollar on Thursday evening — its lowest in almost six months — following comments made by Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda that failed to give a clear signal on a possible interest rate hike next month.The BoJ left borrowing costs unchanged last week and warned of uncertainty over the economic policies of US president-elect Donald Trump.”Today, the yen looks stronger on the back of a freshly released set of stronger-than-expected data,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, analyst at Swissquote Bank.Recent data has showed Japan’s inflation rose for a second month in December, while industrial production declined less than expected in November and retail sales came in higher than estimated last month.Japan’s government also on Friday approved a record budget for the next fiscal year, ramping up sending on social welfare for its ageing population and defence to tackle regional threats.In Seoul, the stock market closed down one percent after the won plunged to a near-16-year low of 1,487.03 against the US dollar on Friday morning.South Korea is struggling to emerge from political turbulence in the wake of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law declaration this month, which prompted his impeachment.Acting President Han Duck-soo was also impeached Friday in a vote that prompted ruling party lawmakers to protest with angry chants and raised fists.South Korea’s business outlook for January fell in the Bank of Korea’s composite sentiment index, the biggest month-on-month slide since April 2020, according to data based on almost 3,300 firms released Friday.Elsewhere Asia, Shanghai and Hong Kong edged up.- Key figures around 1100 GMT -London – FTSE 100: FLAT at 8,138.29Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.6 percent at 7,328.79 Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.4 percent at 19,932.52Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.8 percent at 40,281.16 points (close)Seoul – Kospi: DOWN 1.0 percent at 2,404.77 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.1 percent at 20,116.93 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 3,400.14 (close)New York – Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 43,325.80 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0427 from $1.0424 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2536 from $1.2526Dollar/yen: DOWN at 157.72 yen from 158.00 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 83.15 pence from 83.19 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.9 percent at $70.23 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.8 percent at $73.86 per barrel

Osamu Suzuki, who grew small-car specialist Suzuki Motor into an international brand with huge successes in India, died Wednesday at age 94 after bouts with cancer, the company said Friday.Under the charismatic businessman’s four-decade leadership through 2021, the firm’s sales grew more than 10-fold.Born on January 30, 1930, in the central Japanese region of Gifu, he married into the firm’s founding family and later became its president in 1978.Calling himself an “old man at a small business,” he focused on building light-weight “kei” vehicles, many of which became big hits for their fuel efficiency and easy-to-handle quality.He also actively sought international partners and opportunities overseas to expand his business.The carmaker once tied up with General Motors and Volkswagen and also forged a capital alliance with Toyota in 2019.He expanded in India, where the company’s subsidiary now occupies the top market position.When he retired as the firm’s chairman in 2021, the company’s sales stood at 3.18 trillion yen ($20 billion). When he took over the company in 1978, the firm’s sales stood at 323 billion yen, according to the Nikkei Shimbun business daily.