Asian Markets Rise Amid Geopolitical Tensions and Policy Changes

Asian markets rose on Friday, January 4, 2025, as U.S. stock indexes slipped, carrying Wall Street's weak end to 2024 into the new year. U.S. futures and oil prices also rose, while Japan's market remained closed for the New Year holiday. The dollar traded steadily at 157.29 Japanese yen, down from 157.51 yen, after hovering around 150 yen in early December.



Hong Kong stocks rallied from Thursday's slump, with the Hang Seng adding 1% to 19,814.78, amid worries that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump might raise tariffs on China and other Asian countries once he takes office this month. The Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.4% to 3,249.04, as China placed 28 U.S. entities, including General Dynamics, on its export control list to "safeguard national security and interests."

The Kospi jumped 1.9% to 2,445.06, with the giant SK Hynix Inc. up 5.6% and Samsung Electronics Co. rising 2%. As the political crisis in South Korea entered a new phase, investigators arrived at the presidential residence with a warrant to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.6% to 8,252.00.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4% to 43,392.27, after an early gain of 360 points disappeared, and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.2% to 19,280.79. Tesla helped drag the market lower after disclosing it delivered fewer vehicles in the last three months of 2024 than analysts expected. The electric-vehicle company's stock slumped 6.1%.



Tesla was one of the big winners of 2024, particularly after Donald Trump's Election Day victory raised speculation that Elon Musk's close relationship with the president-elect could help the company. However, critics have been warning that prices all across the stock market have run too high, too quickly and are at risk of a pullback.

Constellation Energy jumped 8.4% for the one of the biggest gains in the S&P 500 after announcing it won more than $1 billion in combined contracts with the U.S. General Services Administration to supply power and perform energy savings and conservation measures. Some Big Tech stocks also helped limit the market's losses, with Nvidia rising 3% after following up its nearly 240% surge in 2023 with a better than 170% jump last year.



As the calendar flips to a new year, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives says it's the "same tech playbook in year 3 of this tech AI driven bull market," for example. However, investors have ratcheted back expectations for how many cuts to interest rates the Federal Reserve may deliver in 2025, as inflation has remained stubbornly above the Fed's 2% target, and Trump's pushing for tariffs and other policies has raised worries about potentially more upward pressure on prices that U.S. consumers have to pay. That drove the Fed to say recently it will likely deliver fewer of the economy-juicing cuts to interest rates in 2025 than it had earlier thought.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 26 cents to $73.39 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 22 cents to $76.15 a barrel. In currency trading, the euro cost $1.0272, up from $1.0268.

Asian markets rose on Friday, January 4, 2025, as U.S. stock indexes slipped, carrying Wall Street's weak end to 2024 into the new year. U.S. futures and oil prices also rose, while Japan's market remained closed for the New Year holiday. The dollar traded steadily at 157.29 Japanese yen, down from 157.51 yen, after hovering around 150 yen in early December. Hong Kong stocks rallied from Thursday's slump, with the Hang Seng adding 1% to 19,814.78, amid worries that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump might raise tariffs on China and other Asian countries once he takes office this month. The Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.4% to 3,249.04, as China placed 28 U.S. entities, including General Dynamics, on its export control list to "safeguard national security and interests." The Kospi jumped 1.9% to 2,445.06, with the giant SK Hynix Inc. up 5.6% and Samsung Electronics Co. rising 2%. As the political crisis in South Korea entered a new phase, investigators arrived at the presidential residence with a warrant to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.6% to 8,252.00. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4% to 43,392.27, after an early gain of 360 points disappeared, and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.2% to 19,280.79. Tesla helped drag the market lower after disclosing it delivered fewer vehicles in the last three months of 2024 than analysts expected. The electric-vehicle company's stock slumped 6.1%.