Thursday, 28 December 2017

Asian stocks recover despite low trading activity

Posted by FortFS at 10:16

Asian stock markets were mostly higher on Thursday amid low activity ahead of the New Year’s holiday and as a rally in oil prices continued to support energy-related equities.

Oil prices settled higher overnight, adding to previous day gains and trading at levels not seen since mid-2015 as disruptions in Libya and the North Sea continued to support benchmarks.

The American currency remained under pressure as downbeat economic data from the United States failed to offer support, exposing it to further downward pressure across the board.

The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was trading 0.15 percent lower at 92.47 by the time of this writing.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence dropped to 122.1 in December from a revised previous month reading of 128.6, below economists' estimate for a reading of 128.

In other news, pending home sales added 0.2 percent month-on-month in November, the National Association of Realtors reported on Wednesday. A 0.4 percent draw was seen.

Dow Jones 28.09 0.11% 24774.30

S&P 500 Index 2.12 0.08% 2682.62

NASDAQ Composite 3.09 0.04% 6939.34

Tech giant Apple, which plunged by 2.5 percent on Tuesday after a Taiwanese media outlet said iPhone X sales forecasts might be lower-than-expected, added 0.02 percent in the prior session.

<<< Next in Europe >>>

The European Central Bank will present its economic bulletin as of 09:00 GMT.

<<< Next in the United States >>>

Investors will be paying attention to the release of goods trade balance figures for November and initial jobless claims in the United States as of 13:30 GMT.

<<< Asian Stock Indexes at 07:10 GMT >>>

Australia ASX S&P +19.70 +0.32% 6,189.40

Shanghai Composite +18.11 +0.55% 3,293.90

Hong Kong Hang Seng +185.49 +0.63% 29,783.15

Japan Nikkei 225 -127.23 -0.56% 22,783.98

Taiwan TSEC 50 Index +80.97 +0.77% 10,567.64