China's Shanghai Composite is on pace to finish its best year since 2014. The index was up 0.1% on Tuesday, and is up 22% this year. That's the best performance since the index recorded a 53% gain five years ago. That also makes it the year's top performer among major Asian stock indexes.

It's been a volatile year for Chinese stocks as the economy slows and as the US-China trade war has yet to reach a conclusion.

Stocks did surge in the first quarter, aided by the People's Bank of China's steps to boost economic growth and Beijing's efforts to open up its financial markets. Trade tensions later caused the Shanghai index to fall for two consecutive quarters before it recovered losses in the home stretch of 2019.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index (HSI), which dropped 0.5% on Tuesday, is also poised to rise this year - albeit by a smaller 9%. Hong Kong markets were rattled by the trade war and by the city's ongoing protests, but that hasn't been enough to erase gains entirely.

Both markets will be closed Wednesday for the New Year holiday.