A woman walks past an electronic screen displaying the stock index prices of Asian countries outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan April 24, 2025. REUTERS/Issei Kato
SYDNEY: Asian shares slipped on Tuesday, tracking Wall Street's tech slump, while silver and gold steadied after a sharp pullback from record highs took some froth off the precious metals' incredible rally.
Oil prices held most of their overnight gains as Russia accused Ukraine of attacking President Vladimir Putin's residence. While Moscow provided no evidence for its claims, it nevertheless represents a setback for U.S. efforts to broker a peace deal.
Also adding to global geopolitical tensions, China launched 10 hours of live-firing exercises around Taiwan on Tuesday.
Liquidity across most markets is thin in a holiday-shortened week, leading to sharp and volatile price swings.
The big mover overnight was silver, which slumped 8.7% in the biggest one-day fall since August 2020, clearing some froth in a parabolic rally that had been looking increasingly divorced from reality.
The metal bounced 1.7% on Tuesday to $73.46 per ounce, having hit as high as $83.62 just a day ago. It is still up a staggering 150% for the year.
The sharp reversal brought gold and other precious metals with it. The yellow metal lost 4.4% overnight but was last up 0.6% at $4,356 per ounce.
Tony Sycamore, analyst at IG in Sydney, said the gap higher in silver prices at Monday's open was likely to do with stop losses, price action and panic buying as well as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange raising margin requirements.
"This is a generational bubble," said Sycamore. "And I'm not going to say that the bubble burst overnight, but... if you see a sell-off like you do, it's going to temper at least some of the enthusiasm in those markets over the coming session. So for me, it's a much needed cooling-off."
On Tuesday, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.1% but was set for an annual gain of 26.7%, its best performance since 2017.
Japan's Nikkei eased 0.2% but was also up 26% for the year.
Taiwanese shares lost 0.7% and China's blue chips fell 0.3% after Beijing's live-firing exercises around Taiwan.
Overnight, Wall Street finished lower as heavyweight technology stocks retreated from last week's gains. Still, U.S. stocks were on course to end 2025 near record highs, having notched double-digit gains in a tumultuous year dominated by tariff wars, central bank policy and simmering geopolitical tensions.
U.S. stock futures were little changed in Asia. Both EURO STOXX 50 futures and FTSE futures were also flat.
YEN FIRMS, AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR FALLS
In the currency markets, the U.S. dollar was steady ahead of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's December meeting which is expected to showcase a divided central bank unsure of the policy path next year. It is on track for an annual decline of almost 10%, its steepest in eight years.
The dollar held at 156 yen, having lost 0.3% overnight to mark a fifth decline in six sessions. The yen is now some distance away from the 158-160 range that could trigger intervention from Japanese authorities.
The Australian dollar was notably weaker as commodities prices slumped. It was last steady at $0.6698, having retreated from its 2025 peak of $0.6727 hit just on Monday.
Treasury yields were a little lower on Tuesday. Two-year yields slipped 1 basis point to 3.4524%, down for a fourth straight session, while the 10-year yield also eased 1 bp to 4.1082%.
Oil prices slipped a little on Tuesday after gaining over 2% overnight. Brent crude futures eased 0.5% to $61.63 a barrel, having jumped 2.1% on Monday.
(Editing by Sam Holmes)
