DOW JONES–The stock markets in East Asia ended trading on Tuesday, mostly with premiums. Market participants pointed to the positive guidance from Wall Street, where interest rate cut speculation had driven the indices. This was contributed to by US Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran, who once again spoke out in favor of lowering interest rates further in the coming year, otherwise the US Federal Reserve would risk a recession. The renewed gains in US technology stocks also supported the mood after concerns about an AI bubble had recently decreased again, it was said.
Seoul’s tech-heavy Kospi rose for the third straight trading day, closing 0.3 percent higher. Here, the shares of index heavyweight Samsung Electronics rose by a further 0.9 percent. For SK Hynix it went up by 0.7 percent.
The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney had the strongest gain, closing 1.1 percent higher. Gains in the raw materials sector had a supportive effect against the background of higher oil and precious metal prices the day before. BHP, Rio Tinto and Woodside Energy each gained a good 1 percent. Minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) December meeting also showed the central bank’s continued hawkish tone as policymakers closely monitor inflation, according to NAB Group chief economist Sally Auld. The minutes also showed that the RBA recognized the potential need for a Interest rate increase discussed next year.
The Japanese Nikkei-225 closed unchanged at 50,413 points. It was held back by a continued recovery of the yen. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama has warned of possible intervention given the recent weakness of the Japanese currency. Japan has a free hand in dealing with excessive yen movements and will take necessary measures against such movements, Katayama said. The dollar fell 0.6 percent to 156.14 yen, from 157.43 yen at the close of trading the previous day. The yen had already recovered significantly on Monday from its sharp setback on Friday. He suffered from what the market saw as the Japanese central bank’s hesitant reaction to inflation, which continued to be too high.
The Chinese stock exchanges appeared little changed. The Shanghai Composite was up 0.1 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.1 percent in late trading.
===
INDEX last +/- % % YTD end
S&P/ASX 200 (Sydney) 8,795.70 +1.1% +5.7% 06:00
Nikkei-225 (Tokyo) 50,412.87 +0.0% +24.1% 07:00
Kospi (Seoul) 4,117.32 +0.3% +71.6% 07:30
Shanghai Comp. 3,919.98 +0.1% +16.1% 08:00
Hang-Seng (Hongk.) 25,764.86 -0.1% +28.1% 09:00
FOREX last +/- % 00:00 Mon, 08:32 % YTD
EUR/USD 1.1772 0.1 1.1760 1.1720 +13.1%
EUR/JPY 183.76 -0.5 184.61 184.52 +13.3%
EUR/GBP 0.8730 -0.1 0.8735 0.8743 +5.8%
GBP/USD 1.3485 0.2 1.3463 1.3405 +6.9%
USD/JPY 156.14 -0.6 157.02 157.44 +0.1%
USD/KRW 1,484.40 0.4 1,477.94 1,479.69 +0.0%
USD/CNY 7.0477 -0.1 7.0570 7.0599 -2.1%
USD/CNH 7.0193 -0.2 7.0322 7.0335 -4.1%
USD/HKD 7.7772 -0.0 7.7803 7.7788 +0.2%
AUD/USD 0.6673 0.2 0.6659 0.6635 +6.8%
NZD/USD 0.5816 0.4 0.5794 0.5777 +2.8%
BTC/USD 87,331.30 -1.4 88,597.10 89,074.30 -6.6%
CRUDE OIL last VT close +/- % +/- USD % YTD
WTI/Nymex 57.83 58.01 -0.3% -0.18 -19.3%
Brent/ICE 61.90 62.07 -0.3% -0.17 -17.0%
METALS last day previous +/- % +/- USD % YTD
Gold 4,481.64 4,444.93 +0.8% +36.71 +65.3%
Silver 69.33 69.06 +0.4% +0.27 +132.5%
Platinum 1,854.58 1,808.70 +2.5% +45.88 +92.0%
Copper 5.44 5.45 -0.1% -0.01 +32.4%
YTD based on the closing price of the previous day
(Information provided without guarantee)
===
Contact the author: [email protected]
DJG/DJN/ros/thl
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 23, 2025 02:28 ET (07:28 GMT)