live updates for June 20 2025

Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Friday after China kept benchmark rates steady, while investors monitored escalating tensions between Israel and Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump is now weighing on whether to back the Israeli military and strike Tehran. The White House said that he will make a final decision within the next two weeks.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 1.15% while mainland China’s CSI 300 index added 0.24%, after the People’s Bank of China expectedly kept its loan rates unchanged at 3.0% for the 1-year loan prime rate and 3.5% for the 5-year LPR.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 moved up 0.12% and the broader Topix index fell 0.17% in choppy trade.

The country’s core inflation rate climbed to 3.7% in May, its highest level since January 2023. The metric — which strips out costs for fresh food — was higher than the 3.6% expected by economists polled by Reuters and is above April’s print of 3.5%.

In South Korea, the Kospi index increased by 1.19%, and crossed the 3,000 mark for the first time in 42 months, while the small-cap Kosdaq climbed 1.01%.

Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 pared losses to 0.2%.

India’s benchmark Nifty 50 opened 0.21% higher while the BSE Sensex gained 0.29%. 

U.S. stock futures fell in early Asian hours as investors investors pored through the latest developments in the Middle East.

Overnight stateside, regular trading was closed for the Juneteenth holiday.

— CNBC’s Brian Evans contributed to this report.