TOKYO (BLOOMBERG) - Asian stocks began a Christmas Eve session in muted fashion on Tuesday (Dec 24), with trading diminishing at the end of a year that took a global benchmark to successive record highs.

After a becalmed Monday on Wall Street, Japanese and Australian equities were little changed. United States futures were also flat after the S&P 500 closed higher for the eighth time in nine sessions. Treasuries and the US dollar were little changed. Oil remains above US$60 a barrel in New York.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average paced indexes as Boeing Co surged after the company ousted Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg.

Ten-year Treasury yields are around 1.93 per cent, 16 basis points higher than where they started the month. Meantime, the US dollar heads for only its fourth monthly decline of the year, while the pound is nursing losses after its worst week in more than two years amid Brexit fears.

Most stock markets close Wednesday for Christmas. Australia, Canada, Germany and United Kingdom markets also shut on Dec 26.

These are the main moves in markets:

- Stocks Futures on the S&P 500 Index were little changed as of 9.08 am in Tokyo. The index rose 0.1 per cent Monday.

- Japan's Topix Index was little changed.

- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was flat.

- Hong Kong's Hang Seng futures were little changed earlier.

Currencies

- The euro was flat at US$1.1094.

- The British pound was at US$1.2945 after retreating 0.5 per cent Monday.

- The Japanese yen was flat at 109.37 per US dollar.

- The offshore yuan was at 7.0085 per US dollar.

Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 1.93 per cent.

- Australian 10-year yields ticked up to 1.33 per cent.

Commodities

- West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed at US$60.58 a barrel.

- Gold was at US$1,485.77 an ounce.