Star Metro - Silver slips lower in mixed end to Asia trading year

Silver dipped nearly nine percent by mid-afternoon and gold also edged lower, extending declines from recent record highs.

Trading remained thin in the holiday-shortened week with Hong Kong, Sydney and Singapore slightly down while Shanghai, Taipei and Mumbai saw modest gains to round off a strong year for worldwide markets.

The movements came after Wall Street's main indices closed slightly lower on Tuesday as worries over valuations of artificial intelligence (AI) stocks lingered.

Still, US indices remained on track for solid gains over 2025 as a whole, and markets in Asia have similarly enjoyed a healthy year.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed up 28 percent for all of 2025. Both Seoul and Tokyo were closed for a holiday, but the Kospi added 75 percent and Nikkei 225 gained more than 26 percent over the year as a whole.

Official data showed factory activity in China ticked up slightly in December, a silver lining to an otherwise lacklustre annual showing for the world's second-largest economy.

The Federal Reserve's monetary easing in the second half of this year has been a key driver of the global market improvements, compounding a surge in the tech sector on the back of the vast amounts of cash pumped into AI.

Minutes of the Fed's recent policy meeting in December indicated that most of its officials see future rate cuts as appropriate, if inflation cools over time as expected.

"Wall Street is rounding out the year in a subdued fashion, capping a good year for stocks, albeit one that included a nervous moment or two," wrote Kyle Rodda, a senior market analyst at Capital.com in Melbourne.

"The markets are pricing in a pretty much close to perfect set of circumstances going into next year. Above-trend economic growth, a stable labour market, continued disinflation, more rate cuts, and an AI boom underpinning it all."

Some of the biggest recent movement has come with precious metals thanks to their status as a safe-haven investment amid geopolitical unrest.

But both gold and silver have seen sharp decreases in recent days. Gold fell to about $4,324.25 per ounce on Wednesday, while silver slid just over one percent to about $71.03 an ounce, after reaching a record-high $84 on Monday.

Oil dipped again slightly after jumping more than two percent on Monday, as negotiations to end Russia's nearly four-year war in Ukraine continue with no clear breakthrough.

An end to the fighting could see sanctions on Russian oil removed, which would see a huge fresh supply hit the market.

- Key figures at around 0700 GMT -

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.9 percent at 25,630.54 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 3,968.84 (close)

Tokyo - market closed for holiday

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1738 from $1.1774 on Tuesday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3459 from $1.3503

Dollar/yen: UP at 156.61 yen from 156.00 yen

Euro/pound: UP at 87.21 pence from 87.15 pence

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.1 percent at $57.89 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.1 percent at $61.27 per barrel

New York - Dow: DOWN 0.2 percent at 48,367.06 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.7 percent at 9,940.71 (close)

B.Cote--SMC