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StreetAccount Summary - Asian Market Recap: Nikkei +0.02%, Hang Seng (0.11%), Shanghai Composite +0.07% as of 03:10 ET

Dec 23 ,2025

• Synopsis:

  • Asia equities ended mostly higher Tuesday. Solid gains in Australia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan while Hong Kong, Shanghai and India traded flat to slightly lower. Modest gains for Southeast Asia while Japan closed mixed with the Topix higher and the Nikkei flat. US futures slightly lower, Europe opened near to the flatline. US dollar weaker, yen strengthening amid more finmin warnings; yuan at 15-month high. JGB yields lower across tenors, Australia yields lower post RBA comments, Treasuries mixed. Crude oil lower, gold and silver extending gains to fresh record highs. Base metals showing some weakness. Cryptocurrencies largely lower.

  • Asia's equity market rally running out of steam in afternoon trade Tuesday with most boards ending off their peaks. Hong Kong slipped to a small loss amid low volumes after Kuaishou Technology reported a cyber attack while mainland blue chips succumbed to a bout of profit taking after a recent run. Elsewhere, Japan equities steady with the yen strengthening back to near where it was prior to the BOJ rate hike last week following more warnings from authorities over one-sided moves although economists warned the government may be attempting to talk the currency higher with actual intervention still some way off.

  • Elsewhere, December RBA meeting minutes contained an outline for a case for rate hike if inflation proves more persistent than RBA assumes. The Bank of Korea warned surging house prices and won weakness were increasing financial system vulnerabilities, just as data showed retail sales growing strongly in November. Singapore November headline and core inflation were both unchanged from October's 1.2%. Indonesia's chief trade negotiator said Jakarta and Washington had ironed out differences and were preparing to sign a full trade agreement in late January.

  • Kuaishou Technology (1024.HK) confirmed its live-streaming function had suffered a cyberattack on Monday that led to a sudden surge of explicit material; stock fell sharply. China Vanke (2202.HK) won a grace period extension for a CNY2B bond payment but failed to win approval for a full one-year's deferred payment period. Hanwha Ocean's (046660.KS) Philadelphia shipyard is expected to play a pivotal role in building of the US's new class of battleship, according to analysts; stock sharply higher. Ambuja Cements (500425.IN) has proposed to consolidate its cement operations by merging its subsidiaries ACC and Orient Cement (535754.IN) into itself in a move to unlock synergies.

• Digest:

  • Japan Finance Minister Katayama warns FX market with a 'free hand' for bold action:

    • In a Bloomberg interview Monday, Finance Minister Katayama said authorities have a "free hand" to take bold action against currency moves that are not in line with fundamentals, said to be her strongest warning yet to speculators following yen weakness after the BOJ rate hike. Argued the "moves were clearly not in line with fundamentals but rather speculative." In response, "we have made clear that we will take bold action, as stated in the Japan-US finance ministers' joint statement." Reference to the US joint statement suggests she already has a tacit green light from Washington to take action if needed without further negotiation. Statement outlines commitment to allowing markets to determine exchange rates, while confirming that there remains scope for intervention in certain circumstances including periods of excess volatility. Article recalled MOF last intervened with USD/JPY at around 160 last year and spent around $100B. Katayama refrained from commenting on current FX levels, adding that there was no specific benchmark for what constitutes excessive or disorderly moves. While taking a case-by-case approach, former FX policy chief Masato Kanda said last year that a JPY10 move in a month could be considered too rapid. Katayama noted they are "always fully prepared" when asked if authorities might intervene in the market as the holiday season approaches and trading volumes are expected to thin.

  • RBA board assessed case for rate hike if inflation, economic trends continue:

    • December RBA minutes showed judgements central to board's decision to hold included degree of excess demand and implications for inflation, outlook for labor demand, and extent of restrictiveness of financial conditions. Members concerned about uptrend inflation and risk it could be more persistent than currently assessed, noting economy is operating with degree of excess demand while recent data gave them greater confidence labor market is a little tight. Said if trends persist, rate hike may be needed at some point next year. At same time, members felt it too early to determine whether inflation is proving persistent, and argued case for keeping cash rate on hold for some time if evidence emerged that part of pickup in inflation is due to temporary factors. While Q3 and October CPI prints came in well above forecasts, members cautious about extrapolating too far into future and emphasized importance of Q4 CPI in guiding February's decision. Assessment of financial conditions mixed with some members judging conditions no longer restrictive, reflecting sharp increase in credit demand, low market risk premia, and rising house prices. Others still saw some level of restrictiveness, pointing to upward drift in unemployment rate. Some economists expect RBA will hike as soon as February with inflation an overriding concern, though markets pricing in rate hike by mid-2026.

  • BOK warns over growing financial vulnerabilities from won weakness, surging house prices:

    • Bank of Korea said country's broad financial system remains resilient but warned of financial vulnerabilities from won weakness, surging house prices. Bank said in its semi-annual report financial and currency market volatility remains elevated because of recent asset price swings, including equity market losses, persistent won weakness (Bloomberg). Said Seoul house prices remain on strong upward trend despite government measures to cool market; credit risk in vulnerable sectors remains high. Reiterated need for 'gradual de-leveraging' in household debt to secure macroeconomic stability. Report will likely end hopes for further BOK rate cut following previous hawkish BOK comments. Separately Tuesday, data showed South Korea November retail sales rose 4.2% y/y as consumer sentiment improved (Yonhap). Also comes as industry ministry forecasted FY25 exports to reach record high at more than $700B after semiconductor exports set record highs in four separate months, car exports surged (Yonhap).

  • Nvidia said to be eyeing H200 shipments to China by mid-February:

    • Reuters, citing three people familiar with the matter, reported Nvidia (NVDA) has told Chinese clients it aims to start shipping H200 AI chips to China before the Lunar New Year holiday in mid-February. Company said to be planning to fulfil initial orders from existing stock, with shipments expected to total 5,000 to 10,000 chip modules - equivalent to about 40,000 to 80,000 H200 AI chips. Nvidia has also told Chinese clients that it plans to add new production capacity for H200 with orders for that capacity opening in 2Q26. Article noted significant uncertainty remains, as Beijing has yet to approve any H200 purchases and the timeline could shift depending on government decisions. Chinese officials held emergency meetings earlier this month to discuss the matter and are weighing whether to allow shipments. One proposal would require each H200 purchase to be bundled with a set ratio of domestic chips. Development follows an earlier report last week the Trump administration had launched an inter-agency review of license applications for H200 chip sales to China after Trump this month said he would allow such shipments with the US government collecting a 25% fee under a premise that sales would help keep US firms ahead of Chinese peers.

  • Indonesia set to sign trade pact with US next month:

    • Indonesia's senior economic minister Airlangga Hartarto said 'all substantial issues' between Jakarta and Washington over trade now settled, full trade deal could be signed by Presidents Prabowo and Trump by end of January (Bloomberg). Said US wanted access to Indonesia's critical minerals while agreeing to give tariff exemptions to tea, coffee and palm oil exports. Agreement comes weeks after two sides appeared to reach impasse after Washington accused Jakarta of backtracking on July agreement that included removal of all tariffs on US imports, purchase of $19B in US-made products including 50 Boeing aircraft. Airlangga emphasized agreement was 'commercial and strategic', Indonesia policies not restricted by agreement following domestic criticism of US demands that limited Jakarta's ability to sign trade, investment agreements with third countries. Announcement comes just as Indonesia also signed trade deal with Russia's Eurasian Economic Union worth around $4B annually (JakartaGlobe).

  • Notable Gainers:

    • +12.5% 042660.KS (Hanwha Ocean): Korean shipbuilding sector trading higher; Trump announces Golden Fleet initiative partnering with South Korea; receives KRW1.971T EPC contract for Shinan Ui offshore wind power plant

    • +7.2% 293.HK (Cathay Pacific Airways): reports November traffic +27.0% y/y

    • +3.1% 4507.JP (Shionogi & Co.): to acquire global rights to RADICAVA for $2.5B (¥393B)

    • +3.0% 4502.JP (Takeda Pharmaceutical): announces topline results for two pivotal Phase 3 studies of zasocitinib (TAK-279) in adults with PsO

    • +2.4% 7965.JP (Zojirushi): guides FY operating income ¥7.44B vs prior guidance ¥7.00B and FactSet ¥7.20

  • Notable Decliners:

    • -3.6% 8227.JP (SHIMAMURA): reports 9M results; confirms guidance

    • -3.5% 1024.HK (Kuaishou Technology): confirms live-streaming function of Kuaishou App attacked by cyberthreat actors around 22:00 ET on 22-Dec

    • -2.3% 2202.HK (China Vanke): bondholders reportedly approve plan to extend CNY2B bonds' grace period for 30 trading days

    • -0.5% 066970.KS (L&F Co.): CEO Choi SuAn resigns, Heo Jaehong appointed replacement

• Data:

  • Economic:

    • Singapore November

      • CPI y/y +1.2% versus +1.2% in prior month

  • Markets:

    • Nikkei: 10.48 or +0.02% to 50412.87

    • Hang Seng: (27.63) or (0.11%) to 25774.14

    • Shanghai Composite: 2.61 or +0.07% to 3919.98

    • Shenzhen Composite: (0.59) or (0.02%) to 2492.11

    • ASX200: 95.80 or +1.10% to 8795.70

    • KOSPI: 11.39 or +0.28% to 4117.32

    • SENSEX: (6.37) or (0.01%) to 85561.11

  • Currencies:

    • $-¥: (1.04) or (0.66%) to 156.0040

    • $-KRW: +0.94 or +0.06% to 1480.9900

    • A$-$: +0.00 or +0.33% to 0.6680

    • $-INR: (0.01) or (0.01%) to 89.6706

    • $-CNY: (0.01) or (0.14%) to 7.0274