Staff writers
The Australian sharemarket will probably ring in New Year with a slow start as it’s expected to open lower. Futures are pointing to a 31 point drop, or about 0.36 per cent, with the Australian dollar steady at US66.73¢ this morning.
The S&P/ASX 200 closed down 2.8 points at 8714.30 on Wednesday as the market finished trade early for New Year’s Eve. It remained closed on New Year’s Day.
The sharemarket’s marginal gains over 2025 were far below the sharemarkets of most other developed countries. Global stocks are poised for their biggest annual gain in six years, supported by US Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and a surge in enthusiasm for artificial intelligence companies.
Wall Street also had a lacklustre final session for the year. The S&P 500 pulled back 0.7 per cent on New Year’s Eve, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.6 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite gave back 0.8 per cent.
Wall Street’s S&P500 index gained 16.7 per cent in 2025, while similar indices for Britain, Japan, Germany, Canada and Hong Kong all climbed by more than 20 per cent. The MSCI All Country World Index – one of the broadest measures of the equity market – surged 21 per cent for the year. Among the few markets that the ASX 200 outperformed was New Zealand’s, where the NZ50 rose 3.7 per cent.
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