Markets around the globe

On Friday, stocks in Asia were mixed; just one after shares in the U.S. reached all-time highs.

Mainland Chinese stocks were unable to strengthen their positions. The Shanghai composite declined to end its trading day to about 3,005.04. Meanwhile, the Shenzhen component declined by 0.68% to 10,233.77. Another Chinese index the Shenzhen composite also fell on Friday. Its index dropped 0.675% to around 1,697.91.

In Hong Kong. Hang Seng index added 1.18% as of its final hour of trading. The shares of Chinese tech giant Tencent which are listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange gained 1.9%.

In South Korea, the Kospi index increased by 0.29% to close at 2,204.21. The major factor which helped the index is Samsung. On Friday, shares of Samsung Electronics gained 1,99%.

Japan has the second-largest economy in Asia. Nikkei 225 fell 0.36% to 23,837.72. The shares of index heavyweight Fast Retailing declined 2.01%. Another major Japanese index added 0.11% to finish its trading day at 1,733.18.

In the Asia Pacific region, shares in Australia rose after the holidays. The S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.4% higher at 6,821.70.

Stock markets and U.S. stock indexes

As mentioned above, U.S. stocks reached all-time highs on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 105.94 points to close at 28,621.39. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 gained 0.51% to 3,229.91.

Another major U.S. stock index the Nasdaq Composite ended its trading day 0.78% higher at 9,022.39.  It is worth mentioning that the Nasdaq Composite surpassed the 9,000 mark for the first time in history.

On Friday, Japanese retail sales data for November became available to the public. Retail sales failed to meet the expectations. According to the data, sales fell 2.1% in November in comparison with the same period in 2018. This result was below a median market forecast for a 1.7%. In October, in Japan, a sales tax hike may be one of the reasons why retail sales fell in November.