Extremely Few Markets Open for Trading and No Big Stories to Report
December 26, 2011
Most markets remain closed today, observing Christmas or Boxing Day. The list of shut markets includes Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, France, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Finland, Austria, Poland, Romania, Hungary, The Czech Republic, Bulgaria, the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
In thin trading, the dollar has edged down 0.2% against the euro, yen, and sterling and dipped 0.1% versus the loonie, Swissie, Aussie dollar, kiwi, and yuan. The dollar thrives on safe-haven inflows in this environment of ultra-uncertainty, so improved confidence in U.S. growth prospects as seen following better-than-expected data last week tends to depress the U.S. currency.
China’s currency touched an 18-year high against the dollar. Reports in China surfaced expressing concern about capital outflows. Beijing officials agreed with their Japanese counterparts to permit direct yen-yuan trading without the dollar acting as an intermediary.
Japan’s Nikkei-225 equity index advanced 1.0%, and Indian share prices climbed 1.5%. Stocks rose 0.8% in Russia but fell 1.0% in China and by 0.6% in South Korea.
Metal prices fell. Gold dropped back below $1600 per ounce.
Capacity usage in Turkey rose a full percentage point to 76.6%.
Tuesday in this last week of 2011 sees the release of Bank of Japan minutes, the Case Shiller index of U.S. home prices, the Richmond Fed index, Finnish and Czech consumer confidence, and Greek trade data.
Copyright 2011, Larry Greenberg. All rights reserved. No secondary distribution without express permission.
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