Asian stocks were mostly lower on Tuesday, while U.S. stock futures were little changed, as investors headed into the last sessions of 2025 with activity constrained by year-end holidays. With two trading days left before the year closes for many markets, trading volumes have been muted, and relatively small flows have had an outsized impact on prices. Most major exchanges are scheduled to be shut on Thursday for New Year’s Day, and some markets are expected to remain closed on Friday.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 eased by less than 0.1% to 50,519.12. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.5% to 25,751.64, while China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 0.1% to 3,961.21. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.1% to 8,719.10. South Korea’s Kospi added fewer than 2 points to 4,221.64, and Taiwan’s Taiex dipped 0.2%.
Traders also pointed to the calendar as a major driver of near-term direction. With fewer corporate updates and economic releases on the schedule, attention has shifted to whether late-year rebalancing will extend recent trends, particularly the rotation between technology shares and more rate-sensitive sectors such as financials and consumer companies.
The small moves across the region came as investors balanced strong annual performances in several benchmarks against late-December caution, especially around richly valued technology shares and the outlook for interest rates.
Wall Street Pullback Centers On Mega-Cap Tech
The subdued tone in Asia followed a modest decline on Wall Street during quiet trading on Monday. The S&P 500 fell 24.20 points, or 0.3%, to 6,905.74. Even after the day’s slip, the benchmark index remained up more than 17% for the year and was still on track for an eighth consecutive monthly gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 249.04 points, or 0.5%, to 48,461.93, and the Nasdaq composite fell 118.75 points, or 0.5%, to 23,474.35.
Big technology companies, whose market values give them heavy weight in major indexes, were among the biggest drags. Nvidia fell 1.2% and Broadcom lost 0.8%. Investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence helped drive the sector higher through much of 2025 and pushed the broader market to repeated records. Recently, however, some of those shares have been more uneven as investors reassess whether the eventual payoff from AI will justify the scale of today’s spending.
Energy stocks moved higher alongside oil, helping limit the broader market’s losses. Exxon Mobil rose 1.2% as crude prices climbed in the previous session.
Oil Steady As Gold And Silver Resume Gains
In commodities trading early Tuesday, oil prices were steady after jumping the day before. U.S. benchmark crude rose 2.4% on Monday to settle at 58.08 US-Dollar per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 2.1% to settle at 61.94 US-Dollar per barrel. Early Tuesday, U.S. crude was little changed, while Brent was down 0.01 US-Dollar at 61.48 US-Dollar per barrel.
Gold and silver advanced after a sharp pullback on Monday. The decline came after the Chicago Mercantile Exchange required traders to post more cash to maintain positions in precious-metals contracts, a move that can curb leveraged bets and cool fast rallies. By early Tuesday, gold was up 0.9% after sliding 4.6% a day earlier, and it remained up about 64% for 2025. Silver jumped 5.2% after dropping 8.7% on Monday and was still more than double for the year.
Treasury Yields Dip And Currency Moves Stay Modest
Bond markets were also calm. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury slipped to 4.11% from 4.13% late Friday. Yields have fallen substantially from earlier in the year, reflecting both expectations for and eventual cuts to interest rates in 2025 by the Federal Reserve. The central bank cut its benchmark rate three times later in the year as it sought to offset slowing jobs growth, while inflation remained above its 2% target.
Rate cuts can support the economy by making mortgages, business loans and other borrowing cheaper, but they can also add to inflation pressures if demand strengthens too quickly. That trade-off has kept markets attentive to the balance between cooling in the job market and persistent price increases.
In foreign-exchange trading early Tuesday, the U.S. currency softened to 156.03 Japanese yen from 156.05 yen. The euro rose to 1.1779 US-Dollar from 1.1774 US-Dollar.
