Business
Asia markets mixed in final day of 2025 – SUCH TV
Asian stocks were mixed at the start of the final trading day of 2025 on Wednesday, with some tracking Wall Street losses as investors eased towards the New Year break.
Trading remained thin in the holiday-shortened week, though precious metals appeared to steady after seeing a sharp pullback from recent record highs.
Markets in Hong Kong and Australia edged lower while Shanghai and Taipei saw small morning gains in what has been a strong year for worldwide markets.
The movements came after Wall Street’s main indices closed slightly lower on Tuesday as worries over valuations of artificial intelligence (AI) stocks lingered.
Still, US indices remained on track for solid gains over 2025 as a whole, and markets in Asia similarly enjoyed a healthy year.
Seoul’s Kospi climbed more than 75 percent and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 more than 26 percent over 2025.
Both markets were closed on Wednesday.
Official data showed factory activity in China ticked up slightly in December, a silver lining to an otherwise lacklustre end to the year for the world’s second-largest economy.
The Federal Reserve’s monetary easing in the second half of this year has been a key driver of the global market improvements, compounding a surge in the tech sector on the back of the vast amounts of cash pumped into AI.
Minutes of the Fed’s recent policy meeting in December indicated that most of its officials see future rate cuts as appropriate, if inflation cools over time as expected.
Some of the biggest recent movement has come with precious metals like gold thanks to their status as a safe-haven investment amid geopolitical unrest.
Both gold and silver climbed to records in the past week, though decreased in recent days. Gold sat at about $4,370 per ounce on Wednesday, and silver at $74.96.
Key figures at around 0230 GMT
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.8 percent at 25,652.98 (open)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,974.43 (open)
Tokyo – market closed for holiday
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1740 from $1.1774 on Tuesday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3462 from $1.3503
Dollar/yen: UP at 156.48 yen from 156.00 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 87.20 pence from 87.15 pence
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.1 percent at $61.24 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.1 percent at $57.86 per barrel
New York – Dow: DOWN 0.2 percent at 48,367.06 (close)
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.7 percent at 9,940.71 (close)
The Felix Project is among the organisations feeling the effects of increased costs due to the conflict in Iran.
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Bosses say a good start to the year has been put at risk, but opportunities have also emerged.
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Business
Crude oil soars as Middle east conflict chokes supply routes, Hormuz concerns stokes panic – SUCH TV
Crude oil prices climbed on Monday on continuing fears of supply losses because of shipping disruptions in the key Middle East producing region from the US-Israeli war with Iran.
Brent crude futures rose $1.71, or 1.6%, to $110.74 a barrel by 0057 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained $0.71, or 0.6%, to trade at $112.25 per barrel.
On Thursday, the last trading day before the Good Friday holiday break, WTI settled up more than 11%, and Brent soared nearly 8% in volatile trading, recording their biggest absolute price increase since 2020, as US President Donald Trump promised to continue attacks on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, which carries oil and petroleum products from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, remains largely closed by Iranian attacks on shipping after the war began on February 28.
Because of the Middle East supply disruptions, refiners are seeking alternative sources for crude, particularly for physical cargoes in the US and the UK North Sea.
“Global buyers are bidding aggressively for (US) Gulf Coast barrels, and Brent is rallying even faster,” the Schork Group said in a client note on Monday.
On Sunday, Trump ratcheted up pressure on Tehran, threatening in an expletive-laden Easter Sunday social media post to target Iran’s power plants and bridges on Tuesday if the strategic Strait of Hormuz is not reopened.
Still, some vessels, including an Omani-operated tanker, a French-owned container ship and a Japanese-owned gas carrier, crossed the Strait of Hormuz since Thursday, shipping data showed, reflecting Iran’s policy to allow passage for vessels from countries it deems friendly.
The war threatens to linger on as Iran has officially told mediators it is not prepared to meet with US officials in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, in the coming days, and efforts to produce a ceasefire have reached a dead end, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
On Sunday, OPEC+, consisting of some members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, agreed to a modest rise of 206,000 barrels per day for May.
However, that decision will largely exist on paper as several of the group’s key producers are unable to raise output due to the war.
Russian supply has been disrupted recently by Ukrainian drone attacks on its Baltic Sea export terminal. Media reports on Sunday said its Ust-Luga terminal resumed loadings on Saturday after days of disruptions.
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