Asian Markets Decline as Wall Street Slips in Year-End Trading

Asian stock markets experienced a downward trend on Tuesday, following a decline on Wall Street. With just two trading days remaining in 2025, major investors have largely closed their positions, resulting in thin trading volumes. U.S. futures remained stable, while crude oil prices showed minimal change and precious metals, including gold and silver, resumed their upward movements.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei index dipped slightly by less than 0.1%, settling at 50,519.12. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose by 0.5% to 25,751.64, and the Shanghai Composite index saw a slight decrease of 0.1%, ending at 3,961.21. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell by 0.1% to 8,719.10. South Korea’s Kospi added less than two points, closing at 4,221.64, while Taiwan’s Taiex reported a decline of 0.2%.

Trading on Wall Street on Monday was characterized by low activity, with the S&P 500 index declining by 0.3% to 6,905.74. Despite this, the benchmark index remains up more than 17% for the year and is on track for its eighth consecutive monthly gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5% to 48,461.93, and the Nasdaq composite also decreased by 0.5%, finishing at 23,474.35.

Prominent technology stocks, particularly those heavily invested in artificial intelligence, were a significant factor in the market’s decline. Nvidia experienced a drop of 1.2%, while Broadcom fell 0.8%. Investors have expressed skepticism regarding whether the anticipated returns on these substantial investments will materialize.

Energy stocks performed better on Monday, buoyed by rising oil prices. The U.S. benchmark crude oil price increased by 2.4%, closing at $58.08 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, rose 2.1% to $61.94 per barrel. Exxon Mobil gained 1.2% during this period. Early Tuesday, U.S. crude prices remained unchanged, while Brent slipped by 1 cent to $61.48 per barrel.

Precious metals saw a resurgence after a brief pullback on Monday. The price of gold increased by 0.9% early Tuesday, recovering from a 4.6% drop the previous day. Gold is up approximately 64% for the year. Silver prices surged 5.2%, bouncing back after an 8.7% decline on Monday, marking a more than doubling in value throughout 2025.

In the bond market, Treasury yields decreased, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury falling to 4.11% from 4.13% late Friday. This reduction in yields comes as the Federal Reserve has cut its benchmark rate to address a slowing jobs market, which could lead to inflation surpassing its target of 2%.

In currency markets, the U.S. dollar fell to 156.03 Japanese yen from 156.05 yen. The euro strengthened to $1.1779 from $1.1774.

As the year draws to a close, market participants are closely monitoring these developments, with many major global markets set to close on New Year’s Day, January 1, 2026.