BANGKOK — Stocks in Europe and Asia were mostly lower in weak holiday trading as China held military exercises near the island of Taiwan.
Gold and silver prices fell after recent gains, while oil prices jumped more than $1. US futures were little changed.
Taiwan stocks were higher even after Chinese military forces said it was conducting exercises around the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its territory.
In early European trade, Germany's DAX fell 0.2% to 24,296.81, while the CAC 40 in Paris was little changed at 8,100.83. Britain's FTSE 100 index also barely budged at 9,874.80.
Future for S&The P 500 index fell 0.2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was unchanged.
China said its joint forces exercise was intended to warn against so-called separatist forces and “external interference” forces. Taiwan has put its military on alert and called Beijing's government “the world's biggest destroyer.”
The teachings appeared after Beijing expresses dissatisfaction with US arms sales to the territory. This followed a Japanese comment Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stated that Japan's defense forces could intervene if China took action against Taiwan. China's statement did not mention the United States or Japan.
Taiwan's benchmark Taiex gained 0.9%, but the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gave up early gains, falling 0.7% to 25,635.23. The Shanghai Composite Index remained virtually unchanged at 3,965.28.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 0.4% to 50,526.92.
In South Korea, the Kospi index jumped 2.2% to 4,220.56, less than 2 points below the record reached in early November. A 6.8% rise in SK Hynix shares due to a regulatory change that lifted an investment warning for its shares helped lift the index. Samsung Electronics shares rose 2.1%.
Australia, S&The P/ASX 200 was down 0.4% at 8725.70.
The price of gold fell 1.3% to $4,494 a troy ounce and the price of silver fell 2.3% to $75.40. It has surged to a record high due to supply constraints as both precious metals are favored by investors seeking a safe haven beyond stocks and bonds.
Previous jumps in gold prices also partly reflected concerns related to the US government shutdown. Expectations have increased that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates further in the new year, weakening the dollar against other currencies. buying gold.
Silver, which like gold is used in many industries, was affected by other factors. China, which processes about two-thirds of the world's supply, has abandoned its export quota system, replacing it with an export licensing system that comes into effect on January 1.
“Scarcity is no longer a theoretical phenomenon,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a report. “China is at the center of global silver refining, and when the world’s leading refiner starts turning the valve, downstream consumers feel it immediately.”
Opening on Friday from christmas holidaysWITH&The P 500 fell less than 0.1%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell less than 0.1%. The Nasdaq fell 0.1%.
With three trading days left until the end of 2025, S&The P500 rose almost 18%. this yearboosted by the Trump administration's deregulatory policies and investor optimism about the future of artificial intelligence.
Trading has been muted, with institutional investors largely shut down for the year.
In other trading Monday morning, benchmark U.S. crude rose $1.13 to $57.87 a barrel and Brent crude, the international standard, rose $1.13 to $61.37 a barrel. On Friday, US oil fell 2.8% and Brent crude fell 2.6%.
The US dollar fell to 156.30 Japanese yen from 156.56 yen. The euro rose to $1.1779 from $1.1770.
