 "Asian stocks advance as Fed rate cut bets push precious metals to records")
Asian shares were mixed on Monday after a lackluster post-Christmas session on Wall Street, despite a ratcheting up of tensions over Taiwan.
US futures were little changed.
The Chinese military said it had dispatched air, navy and rocket troops to conduct joint military drills around the self-governed island, which Beijing claims as its territory, to warn against what it called separatist and external interference forces. Taiwan said it was placing its forces on alert and called the Beijing government the biggest destroyer of peace.
The drills came after Beijing expressed anger at US arms sales to the territory and a statement by Japan's prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, saying its military could get involved if China were to take action against Taiwan, the self-governing island that the world's second-biggest economy says must come under its rule. But the Chinese military did not mention the United States and Japan in its statement on Monday morning.
Taiwan's benchmark gained 0.8 per cent, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was up 0.3 per cent at 25,887.33. The Shanghai Composite index added 0.3 per cent to 3,975.92.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 slipped 0.2 per cent to 50,663.90.
In South Korea, the Kospi jumped 1.9 per cent to 4,207.36, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gave up 0.3 per cent to 8,732.70.
The price of gold fell 0.4 per cent to $4,535.50 per troy ounce, while silver gained 3 per cent to $79.87. It has jumped to record levels on supply constraints.
Earlier surges in gold prices partly reflected worries during the US government shutdown. Expectations that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates further in the new year, weakening the dollar against other currencies, have also fueled buying of gold.
Both precious metals have risen this year as investors have looked for safe havens outside of stocks and bonds. Miners posted solid gains Friday. Freeport-McMoRan climbed 2.2 per cent.
Trading is light with institutional investors largely closed out for the year.
Reopening Friday from the Christmas holiday, the S&P 500 index fell less than 0.1 per cent to 6,929.94. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell less than 0.1 per cent, to 48,710.97, while the Nasdaq composite fell 0.1 per cent to 23,593.10.
With three trading days left in 2025, the S&P 500 has climbed nearly 18 per cent this year, helped by the deregulatory policies of the Trump administration and investor optimism about the future of artificial intelligence.
In other dealings early Monday, US benchmark crude oil gained 60 cents to $57.34 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, advanced 62 cents to $60.86 per barrel.
On Friday, US crude oil fell 2.8 per cent and Brent crude fell 2.6 per cent.
The US dollar fell to 156.28 Japanese yen from 156.56 yen. The euro was unchanged at $1.1770.
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