Stock Markets on December 26-27

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

Moreover, 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.

Stocks in Asia

Mainland Chinese stocks were unable to strengthen their positions. The Shanghai composite declined to end its trading day to about 3,005.04. In the meantime, 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, the Hang Seng index gained 1.18% during the final hour of trading. The shares of Chinese tech giant Tencent which are listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, rose 1.9%.

The South Kore’s Kospi index increased by 0.29% to close at 2,204.21. The primary factor which helped the index was Samsung Electronics. 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.

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Last week Japanese retail sales data for November became available to the public. Retail sales decreased and surpassed expectations. Based on 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.

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.