Asia markets are poised to rise after a U.S. government shutdown was averted and as a cooler-than-expected inflation reading helped lift U.S. markets Friday.

Asia-Pacific markets started the holiday-shortened Christmas week on a positive note, after a U.S. government shutdown was averted over the weekend.

On Monday, investors will be looking out for any official announcement related to the merger of Japanese automakers Honda Motor and Nissan Motor. Japanese media outlet Jiji Press has reported that the announcement could come as early as Monday.

Last Friday in the U.S., all three major indexes climbed, helped by cooler-than-expected inflation data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.18%, while the S&P 500 added 1.09% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.03%.

The personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, accelerated to 2.4% in November from 2.3% the previous month, but was still lower than the 2.5% estimate from Dow Jones.

Excluding food and energy, core PCE rose 2.8% from a year ago, slightly below expectations of 2.9%.