Asian shares are mostly lower in quiet holiday trading as China-Taiwan tensions rise

[AP Photo]

Asian shares were mostly lower in thin holiday trading as China staged military exercises near the island of Taiwan.

The prices of gold and silver fell back after recent gains, while oil prices advanced. U.S. futures were little changed.

Shares in Taiwan were higher even after China’s military said it was conducting the drills around the self-governed island that Beijing claims as its territory.

Taiwan placed its forces gains, falling 0.7% to 25,637.69. The Shanghai Composite index was virtually unchanged at 3,965.28.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.4% to 50,526.92.

In South Korea, the Kospi jumped 2.2% to 4,220.56, less than 2 points off its all-time record reached in early November. A 6.8% jump for SK Hynix due to a regulatory change that lifted an investment warning for its stock helped boost the benchmark. Samsung Electronics advanced 2.1%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gave up 0.4% to 8,725.70.

The price of gold fell 1.3% to $4,494 per troy ounce, while silver slipped 2.4% to $75.30. It has jumped to record levels on supply constraints, as both precious metals have been favored by investors seeking safe havens outside of stocks and bonds.

Earlier surges in gold prices also partly reflected worries during the U.S. government shutdown. Expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates further in the new year, weakening the dollar against other currencies, have further fueled buying of gold.

Silver, which is used in many industries, has been influenced by other factors, too. China, which refines about two-thirds of global supplies, has scrapped an export quota system, replacing it with an export licensing system effective Jan. 1.

“Scarcity is no longer theoretical,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a report. “China sits at the center of global silver refining, and when the world’s top refiner starts tightening the valve, downstream users feel it immediately.”

Reopening Friday from the Christmas holiday, the S&P 500 index fell less than 0.1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell less than 0.1%. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.1%.

With three trading days left in 2025, the S&P 500 has climbed nearly 18% this year, helped by the deregulatory policies of the Trump administration and investor optimism about the future of artificial intelligence.

Trading has been light, with institutional investors largely closed out for the year.

The U.S. dollar fell to 156.23 Japanese yen from 156.56 yen. The euro rose to $1.1777 from $1.1770. MDT/AP