By Chris Becker
The end of the trading year was marked by a lot of profit taking and squaring up as the month end and quarterly end triple witching saw major rebalances in equity portfolios, although Wall Street was largely immune from any downside volatility. Gold finished on a high while the USD came back ever so slightly, with the new start to the year most likely a continuation of the old as risk markets look forward to the mid-January signing of a trade deal between China and the US.
Looking at Asian share markets from New Years eve where the Shanghai Composite closed 0.3% higher to 3050 points to consolidate above the long held 3000 point resistance level, while the Hang Seng Index took back its previous gains to close half a percent lower at 28189 points as it remains above the previous October highs. The daily chart shows hesitation here below the 28500 point level with momentum still poised but not overbought, so watch for any retracement towards the high moving average:
