Asia-Pacific markets trade mixed as Wall Street pulls back, with Seoul, Sydney and Tokyo all in the red to start the session.

A blockbuster corporate battle dominates headlines as Paramount launches a hostile bid to challenge Netflix’s US$72 billion offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, sending shares of Paramount, Netflix and WBD sharply higher and lower in different directions.

Nvidia lands a major geopolitical and commercial win after the Trump administration clears sales of its H200 chip to China - with the US government taking a 25% cut of revenues.

In UP or DOWN, we break down Stellantis’ tiny car ambitions, IBM’s US$11 billion acquisition of Confluent, Ares’ surge into the S&P 500, Genting Singapore’s Moody’s downgrade, and Sembcorp’s talks to acquire Australia’s Alinta Energy.

Back home, the STI slips as DFI Retail leads declines while Venture Corp and ST Engineering edge higher.

We wrap with Hollywood box office fireworks as Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 smashes December records - all hosted by Michelle Martin with Ryan Huang.