Japan stocks take a breather, Aussie shares hold near two-year highs

Australia stocks kicked off Thursday on a positive note, hovering near two-year highs, while Japan shares fell at the open after rallying the day before.

Markets including Australia and Hong Kong resumed trading Wednesday after a Christmas break, both ending higher, while China stocks were buoyed by a rebound in online gaming stocks.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200  index rose 0.33%, holding at its highest level since late April 2022. The index is set to end the year decidedly higher at 7.7%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.69% at open, after closing more than 1% higher in the previous session. The broader Topix index shed 0.45%.

Retail sales data from Japan showed a 5.3% growth in November, higher than a Reuters poll forecast of 5%.

South Korea’s Kospi opened 0.18% higher, attempting to cling on to gains from the previous session. The smaller Kosdaq inched 0.19% lower.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 16,733, pointing to a higher open compared with the HSI’s close of 16,624.84.

Overnight, U.S. stocks finished higher Wednesday as traders kept an eye on the S&P 500’s march toward record levels.

The S&P 500 inched up 0.14%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.16%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 111.19 points, or 0.3%, to finish at 37,656.52.

The Dow notched a fresh closing high, while the S&P 500 finished less than 0.5% off of its closing record of 4,796.56 set in January 2022. Along with the Dow and Nasdaq, the S&P is also enjoying an eight-week winning streak — its longest since 2017.

— CNBC’s Samantha Subin and Alex Harring contributed to this report