Asian stocks begin year on cautious note [Video]

Asian stocks began 2025 mostly in the red on Thursday after worries about US interest rates, tariffs, and China’s economy gave Wall Street the holiday blues for a fourth straight session.

Equities mostly had a bumper 2024 on the back of enthusiasm about artificial intelligence (AI), cuts in borrowing costs by central banks, and Donald Trump’s presidential election win.

The Dow ended the year up around 13 percent, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq — which have more tech stocks — climbed over 23 percent and around 29 percent respectively.

Germany’s DAX added almost 20 percent, as did Japan’s Nikkei. The FTSE 100 gained nearly six percent, and France’s CAC 40 was the outlier, falling 2.2 percent.

Bitcoin exploded more than 120 percent to break $100,000 while fellow cryptocurrency Ethereum rose over 40 percent. Gold, coffee and cocoa set new records.

“It was an exceptional year,” said Christopher Dembik, …