The skyline of Tokyo city, Japan.
Tomohiro Ohsumi | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were set to open higher Monday, after the U.S. attacked Venezuela and captured its leader Nicolas Maduro on Saturday, while oil prices edged lower amid uncertainty over the oil-rich country and risk premiums.
Following the attack, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were flown to New York — where they were charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy and other crimes. Drug trafficking, according to the indictment, “has enriched and entrenched Venezuela’s political and military elite.”
Brent crude prices slipped more than 1% earlier before paring losses, and were last trading 0.25% lower, while the West Texas Intermediate crude prices fell 0.4%.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index was set for a higher open, with its futures contract in Chicago trading at 51,075, and its counterpart in Osaka at 50,620, against the index’s last close of 50,339.48. The index will come back from the holidays and open its first trading session of the year.
Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 rose 0.21%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was set to open higher, with its futures contract trading at 26,442, against the index’s previous close of 26,338.47.
U.S. equity futures were steady in early Asian hours.
On Friday stateside, the first trading day of 2026, the S&P 500 closed slightly higher as gains in semiconductor names kept the index afloat.
The benchmark closed up 0.19% at 6,858.47, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.03% to finish at 23,235.63. The two had been solidly positive earlier in the day, with the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq trading higher by 0.7% and 1.5% at their peaks, respectively.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average moved up 319.10 points, or 0.66%, to settle at 48,382.39.
— CNBC’s Liz Napolitano, Fred Imbert and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.
