British News Agency

The FTSE 100 in the UK and the DAX index in Germany had recently been below the horizontal line, while the CAC index in France dropped by 0.1%. Across Europe, the Stoxx 600 index closed up 0.3% on Tuesday, supported by record-high share prices of Novo Nordisk, which reached new highs after the company received FDA approval for its first GLP-1 pill.

French pharmaceutical company Sanofi announced on Tuesday that it will acquire U.S.-based Dynavax for $2.2 billion. Dynavax sells a hepatitis B vaccine for adults and is developing a shingles vaccine candidate.

Gold and silver futures continued to rise, reaching new highs during the Monday and Tuesday trading sessions. Recently, gold was trading at $4,514.3 per ounce and silver at $72,165.

On the other hand, due to the Christmas Eve holiday, many indices are expected to close early, and the Asia-Pacific markets were generally trending upwards. The S&P 500 index also closed at a record level, despite U.S. stock futures remaining flat overnight.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose by 0.14%, while the Topix Index remained flat. Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported on Wednesday that the country will issue new government bonds worth about 29.6 trillion yen (approximately $190 billion) to finance the fiscal 2026 budget.

In the markets, the yield on 30-year Japanese government bonds rose by 2 basis points to a record level of 3.454%, while the yield on 20-year JGBs rose by just under 1 basis point to 2.992%.

After NHK reported that Japanese beverage maker Sapporo Holdings is preparing to sell its real estate unit to a consortium led by private equity firms KKR and PAG for more than 400 billion yen ($2.57 billion), the company's shares saw a slight increase of just under 1%.

South Korea's Kospi index gained 0.2%, while the smaller Kosdaq index fell by 0.2%. After reports that South Korea's national pension fund was conducting strategic currency hedging activities, the South Korean won appreciated by more than 1% against the dollar, reaching 1,462.3.

Shares of South Korean battery materials maker EnChem rose by more than 10% after local media reported that the company signed a supply agreement worth about 1.5 trillion Korean won (about $1.03 billion) with China's Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose by 0.1%, while China's CSI 300 index remained flat. However, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index closed down by 0.33%, ending a four-day rally. Markets in Hong Kong and Australia are expected to close early due to the holiday.