The logo of Japanese entertainment and electronics giant Sony is displayed at the company’s headquarters in Tokyo on May 14, 2025.
Kazuhiro Nogi | Afp | Getty Images
Shares in Sony Financial Group rose 36% on market debut Monday after parent company Sony Group spun off the unit, while Asia markets traded mostly higher as investors looked past the latest tariff developments.
Sony Financial Group stock was assigned a reference price of 150 Japanese yen per share, valuing the company at around 1 trillion yen (over $6.7 billion). Sony said the separation allows the financial arm, which includes Sony Life Insurance, Sony Assurance and Sony Bank, to raise its own growth capital while maintaining brand ties with the wider Sony ecosystem, according to a filing translated by Google.
The parent company cited competing demands for investment in entertainment and semiconductors as a key reason for the financial unit to operate independently.
Japan broader markets fell, with the Nikkei 225 down 0.84%, and the Topix declining 1.57%, after hitting a record high Friday.
Meanwhile, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.71%.
The Reserve Bank of Australia was set to kickstart its two-day policy meeting where it is expected to hold its cash rate steady at 3.6%, according to a Reuters poll.
“The RBA are likely to find themselves in a tougher position than recent meetings. There is real tension building in the data flow,” the Commonwealth Bank of Australia wrote in a note, citing how the country’s August CPI indicates “material upside risks to Q3 inflation” as well as a a cyclical upswing in the activity data. However, CBA’s economists also pointed to signs of softer employment and moderating wages growth.
South Korea’s Kospi added 1.25%, recovering from its steep fall Friday on uncertainty over trade talks with Washington. The small-cap Kosdaq was 1.29% higher.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 1.19% at the open, while the Hang Seng Tech Index advanced 1.5%. Mainland’s CSI 300 was flat.
On Friday stateside, the three major averages climbed following the release of crucial U.S. inflation data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 299.97 points, or 0.65%, to close at 46,247.29. The S&P 500 added 0.59% to close at 6,643.70, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.44% to settle at 22,484.07.
Friday’s rally snapped a three-day losing streak for the major indexes, but still ended the week down. The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 slid 0.7% and 0.3%, marking each index’s first losing week in four. The Dow shed 0.2%.
—CNBC’s Pia Singh and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.
