<figure id="attachment_3245131" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3245131" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3245131" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/250d7288-silver.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3245131" class="wp-caption-text">Silver slid to about US$71.03 an ounce on Wednesday, after reaching a record-high US$84 on Monday. (Unsplash pic)</figcaption></figure>
HONG KONG: Silver slipped further as Asian markets presented a mixed picture in the the final trading day of 2025 on Wednesday, with some stocks tracking Wall Street losses as investors eyed a New Year break.
Silver dipped nearly 9% by mid-afternoon and gold also edged lower, extending declines from recent record highs.
Trading remained thin in the holiday-shortened week with Hong Kong, Sydney and Singapore slightly down while Shanghai, Taipei and Mumbai saw modest gains to round off a strong year for worldwide markets.
The movements came after Wall Street&#8217;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 have similarly enjoyed a healthy year.
Hong Kong&#8217;s Hang Seng index closed up 28% for all of 2025. Both Seoul and Tokyo were closed for a holiday, but the Kospi added 75% and Nikkei 225 gained more than 26% over the year as a whole.
Official data showed factory activity in China ticked up slightly in December, a silver lining to an otherwise lacklustre annual showing for the world&#8217;s second-largest economy.
The US Federal Reserve&#8217;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&#8217;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.
&#8220;Wall Street is rounding out the year in a subdued fashion, capping a good year for stocks, albeit one that included a nervous moment or two,&#8221; wrote Kyle Rodda, a senior market analyst at Capital.com in Melbourne.
&#8220;The markets are pricing in a pretty much close to perfect set of circumstances going into next year. Above-trend economic growth, a stable labour market, continued disinflation, more rate cuts, and an AI boom underpinning it all.&#8221;
Some of the biggest recent movement has come with precious metals thanks to their status as a safe-haven investment amid geopolitical unrest.
But both gold and silver have seen sharp decreases in recent days. Gold fell to about US$4,324.25 per ounce on Wednesday, while silver slid just over 1% to about US$71.03 an ounce, after reaching a record-high US$84 on Monday.
Oil dipped again slightly after jumping more than 2% on Monday, as negotiations to end Russia&#8217;s nearly four-year war in Ukraine continue with no clear breakthrough.
An end to the fighting could see sanctions on Russian oil removed, which would see a huge fresh supply hit the market.

MatchPoint Times

Silver slips lower in mixed end to Asia’s trading year

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