Asian Markets Today: Asian markets on early Monday (May 12, 2025) buoyed by positive developments on the Indo-Pakistan front together with progress in the US-China trade talks. At the last count, the MSCI Asia Pacific ex Japan index traded with significant gains of 0.6 per cent.

China markets led the gains after Beijing iterated that a trade deal has been reached with the US, setting the key headline Indian index Nifty for a strong opening later today.

Details on the China-Washington as per the official announcement will be released today.

U.S. stock index futures also rose sharply in Asian trade, with NQM25 up nearly 2% after Chinese and U.S. officials signaled on Sunday that a trade deal had been met, and that more details will be released later on Monday. 

Asia market performance

China’s SSE Composite index was up 0.4 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng traded 0.77 per cent higher. Meanwhile, the Taiwan weighted index was up nearly 1 per cent. while the Shanghai Composite and South Korea’s Kospi gained up to 0.5 per cent.

Japan’s Nikkei traded with marginal gains of 0.04 per cent.

US stock index futures

US stock index futures also strengthened with all the key index futures up substantially-

Nasdaq 100 futures up 1.93 per cent

Dow Jones futures up over 1 per cent

S&P 500 up 1.37 per cent

Oil prices 

Oil prices climbed in Monday’s trade on progress in the US-China trade deal as sentiment over demand outlook improved. WTI futures were last up 0.6 per cent at $61.36 per bbl, while the Brent crude traded with gains of 0.5 per cent.

Bullion prices

Meanwhile, as geopolitical tensions eased globally, bullion prices softened with US gold futures down nearly 2 per cent at $3,282.17 per ounce. Meanwhile, silver futures declined 0.15 per cent to last trade at 32.86 per ounce.