Asian stocks closed in the negative for the year on Tuesday as concerns about 2025 and a bout of profit-taking thwarted Wall Street’s typical holiday-season “Santa Claus rally” and triggered a minor market downturn.
On Monday, the major US stock market indices declined by roughly one percent, thus extending previous week’s losses. Tesla dropped 3.3 percent, while Meta, Facebook’s parent company, decreased 1.4 percent.
Share prices were relatively stable, but investors were selling to reap the rewards of a remarkable 2024, especially among the seven dominant US tech corporations, colloquially referred to as the “Magnificent Seven”.
Concerns about the slow pace of interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve, combined with uncertainty about President Donald Trump’s forthcoming trade policy implications, were also dampening market optimism.
“In China and other Asian markets, tariffs are merely one of several hurdles that need to be overcome,” according to Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management.
“China’s economic problems extend far beyond trade disputes. The country is struggling to cope with serious domestic consumption issues and internal setbacks in its technology sector,” Innes stated.
China’s data released on Tuesday showed that the country’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for manufacturing stood at 50.1 in December, marking a third straight month of expansion.
“Economic growth has recently seen a noticeable improvement, largely driven by enhanced policy measures implemented late in the year,” noted Gabriel Ng of Capital Economics.
Tokyo was closed on Tuesday, with the Nikkei 225 stock market index achieving its largest year-end close on Monday since the asset bubble deflated in the 1990s.
On the major Asian indexes, the Hang Seng stood out as a lone gainer, posting a 0.7 percent gain by late morning, in contrast to losses in other markets in China, South Korea, and Australia.
Relatives of the victims received the first bodies from the crash of a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 on Tuesday, marking South Korea’s deadliest air catastrophe at home, resulting in the loss of 179 lives.
US-listed Boeing shares dropped over 5 per cent in value on Wall Street on Monday before rebounding.
Jeju Air stock plummeted by as much as 15% on Monday.
On the political front, a South Korean court has issued an arrest warrant for Yoon Suk-yeol, who was recently impeached and currently suspended, after he briefly implemented martial law on December 3.
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Tokyo stock market index: Nikkei 225 closed.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index registered a 0.7 percent rise, closing at 20,175.76.
The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.8 percent to finish at 3,377.45.
Eur/Usd: Up at $1.0413 compared to $1.0401 on Monday.
The pound sterling rose to $1.2557 against the US dollar from yesterday’s trading rate of $1.2548.
Dollar/Japanese Yen: FELL to 156.41 yen from 156.80 yen
The pound rose against the euro, increasing to 82.93 pence from 82.89 pence per euro.
West Texas Intermediate rose by 0.6 percent to a price of $71.40 per barrel.
Brent North Sea oil prices rose by 0.5 percent to a value of 74.38 dollars per barrel.
