Asia-Pacific stock markets are expected to open mixed on Friday, marking a cautious start to the new year. This movement follows the New Year's Eve close of US markets, where the three major Wall Street indexes weakened, although overall they still posted positive performance for 2025. Several major Asian markets remain closed for the New Year holiday, including Japan and mainland China. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index opened relatively stable with no major movements. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index futures were at 25,648, slightly higher than the last close of 25,630.54,...
Japan's Nikkei stock index closed slightly lower at 50,339.48 on the final trading day of 2025, down 0.4%. This decline was driven by weakness in metals and brokerage stocks. Nevertheless, the Nikkei recorded a gain of around 26% throughout 2025, led by chip and construction stocks, which posted excellent performance. Several large companies, such as Kioxia Holdings, which surged more than sixfold, and SoftBank Group, which posted a 92% gain in 2025, contributed to the Nikkei's performance. Furthermore, construction companies such as Taisei and Shimizu also saw their share prices more than...
The Tokyo stock market this morning saw a slightly higher opening for the Nikkei 225 index, which opened at around 50,691.22 points. This figure is slightly higher than the previous close, signaling that investors are trying to maintain a positive trend amidst thin market activity ahead of the year-end. Market sentiment this morning was influenced by global news and Japanese economic data. Although the index remains high year-on-year, up more than 25% in a year, investors remain wary of reduced liquidity and uncertainty ahead of the long year-end holidays. Many market participants are...
Asia-Pacific stock markets mostly fell on Tuesday, as the final days of the year approached. Pressure came from Wall Street, where a sell-off in technology stocks continued due to investor concerns about a potential artificial intelligence (AI) bubble. This negative sentiment spread to Asian markets and made market participants cautious. In the United States, Nvidia shares fell more than 1% on Monday, paring some of last week's sharp gains. Other technology stocks such as Palantir Technologies, Meta Platforms, and Oracle also weakened. Similarly, Wall Street's major indices closed in the...
Stocks fell on Monday, driven by losses in the technology sector, after the S&P 500 hit a record high last week. The S&P 500 fell 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 152 points, or 0.3%. The artificial intelligence sector was slightly pressured in the trading session. Nvidia shares fell more than 1%, giving back some of their more than 5% gain in the previous week. Palantir Technologies and Meta Platforms also suffered losses, as did Oracle. "Given the light economic calendar this week, internal momentum could be the main story in the...
European stocks closed slightly higher on Monday, supported by gains for auto producers and tech companies as markets continued to gauge the European geopolitical landscape for hints on whether the strong momentum for equities can be extended to next year. The STOXX 50 rose 0.2% to 5,5757 and the pan-European STOXX 600 inched higher to 589. Tech companies led the gains despite broad weakness for their counterparts traded in Wall Street, with ASML and Nokia advancing 1% each. German auto manufacturers were also higher, with BMW and Mercedes Benz adding 1%. On the other hand, defense stocks...