Share prices on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) are likely to open lower on Friday as trading resumes for the first time in the new year.
The ASX 200 index should begin 0.3% off the previous close, according to ASX futures trading which quoted the March share price index contract 27 points below the previous settlement at 8,680 points.
This comes after Wall Street's major indices ended down in the final trading session of 2025 but capped off a roller-coaster year with big gains.
The S&P 500 dropped 0.7% to 6,845.50 points on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.8%.
But for the full calendar year the increases were 16.4% for the S&P 500, 13% for the Dow and 20.5% for the Nasdaq.
“I do not expect that the last few days will have so much bearing on the performance of the next year, it's perfectly fine in any bull market to have moments of cost," Reflexivity Co-founder and President Giuseppe Sette was quoted in a Reuter story as saying.
The Australian market had closed a little weaker on Wednesday in a shortened New Year’s Eve session on what was the final full trading day of the year.
The S&P/ASX 200 index closed ended down 2.8 points to 8,714.3 as six of the 11 sectors ended in negative territory amid light holiday volumes.
Across the full year the index rose 5.82%, down from 7.5% in 2024 and easily outpaced by U.S. equities markets in 2025.
In fixed interest markets, Australian Government bond yields dipped with two year rates falling by 0.15% to 4.093% and 10 year rates adding 0.13% to 4.788%.
