World shares are mostly lower in quiet holiday trading as China stages war drills near Taiwan

BANGKOK– Stocks in Europe and Asia were mostly lower in holiday trading as China held military exercises near the island of Taiwan.

Gold and silver prices fell after their recent gains, while oil prices jumped more than $1. US futures were little changed.

Actions in Taiwan rose even after China’s military said it was conducting exercises around the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its territory.

At the start of the European session, the German DAX slipped 0.2% to 24,296.81, while the CAC 40 in Paris remained almost unchanged at 8,100.83. Britain’s FTSE 100 index also barely moved, at 9,874.80.

The future of the S&The P 500 fell 0.2% while that of the Dow Jones Industrial Average remained stable.

China has said its combined forces exercises are aimed at warning against what it calls separatist forces and “external interference.” Taiwan put its military on alert and called the Beijing government the “greatest destroyer of peace.”

The exercises came after Beijing expressed anger over U.S. arms sales to the territory. This followed a comment from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi that Japanese defense forces could be involved if China were to take action against Taiwan. The Chinese statement does not mention the United States and Japan.

Taiwan’s benchmark Taiex index gained 0.9%, but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gave up early gains, falling 0.7% to 25,635.23. 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 from its historic 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 index. Samsung Electronics rose 2.1%.

Australia S&The P/ASX 200 fell 0.4% to 8,725.70.

Gold prices fell 1.3% to $4,494 per troy ounce, while silver prices fell 2.3% to $75.40. It hit record highs due to supply constraints as both precious metals were favored by investors looking for safe havens outside of stocks and bonds.

Earlier increases in gold prices also partly reflected concerns over the U.S. government shutdown. Expectations that the US Federal Reserve would further cut interest rates in the new year, thereby weakening the dollar against other currencies, further fueled gold buying.

Silver, which like gold is used in many industries, has also been influenced by other factors. China, which refines about two-thirds of the world’s supplies, scrapped its export quota system and replaced it with an export licensing system starting Jan. 1.

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

Reopening Friday from the Christmas holidays, on S&The P 500 Index fell less than 0.1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell less than 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.1%.

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

Trading was light, with institutional investors largely closed for the year.

In other trading Monday morning, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained $1.13 to $57.87 a barrel, while international standard Brent crude rose $1.13 to $61.37 a barrel. On Friday, U.S. crude oil fell 2.8% and Brent crude fell 2.6%.

The U.S. dollar fell to 156.30 Japanese yen from 156.56 yen. The euro rose from $1.1770 to $1.1779.