Asian stock markets diverge at the end of 2025, and Wall Street's annual performance
Global financial markets showed marked divergence as 2025 drew to a close. Major Asian stock exchanges, including those in Japan and South Korea, were closed today for the New Year holiday. Meanwhile, those markets that remained open experienced mixed performance, reflecting the cautious anticipation among investors in the final moments of the year.
Holiday closures and trading schedule
In line with scheduling trading to coincide with global holidays, the Tokyo Stock Exchange will be closed for the New Year holiday on Thursday and Friday, resuming trading on Monday. Meanwhile, South Korea is set to close its trading sessions starting tomorrow, which will reduce overall trading volume in Asian markets for the remainder of the week.
Asian index movements
Turning to active markets, China's Hang Seng Index fell 0.5% at the start of trading, settling at 25,715.16 points, impacted by quick profit-taking before the year's end. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite Index bucked the trend, posting a slight increase of less than 0.1% to reach 3,966.39 points, reflecting relative stability in mainland China.
In Taiwan, the market performed positively, with the Taiex index rising 0.7% to 28,893.59 points, supported by the technology sector. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index edged down 0.1% to 8,706.40 points.
Economic context and weak liquidity
This mixed performance comes at a time when markets are typically characterized by low trading volumes, a well-known seasonal phenomenon in global financial markets during the last week of the year. This is due to the absence of many major investment institutions and portfolio managers who are on holiday, making markets more susceptible to price fluctuations even in small trades. This time of year is more about portfolio adjustments than establishing new investment positions, as everyone awaits the economic data expected at the beginning of 2026.
Wall Street performance and annual gains
On the US front, Wall Street will continue trading today before closing tomorrow. Recent sessions have been characterized by noticeably weak trading volumes. The S&P 500 index fell 9.50 points, or 0.1%, to close at 6894.24. Despite recording three consecutive days of slight losses, the overall picture remains very positive, as the index is still on track for strong annual gains exceeding 17%, reflecting the resilience of the US economy and the ability of companies to grow despite global challenges.
In the same context, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 94.87 points (0.2%) to 48367.06 points, and the Nasdaq Composite Index, dominated by technology stocks, declined by 55.27 points (0.2%) to 23419.08 points, thus ending the year with a mixed performance that paves the way for anticipation of the openings of the new year.
