Asian stock markets are putting in mild up sessions across the region as liquidity and trading volume continue to fall as we head into the last trading sessions of the year. The Australia dollar and other risk currencies are holding on to their overnight gains but remain in a holding pattern, while Wall Street futures are steady, Meanwhile Bitcoin wants to punch higher but can’t find any more buyers as it hovers just below the $49K level but gold is slowly advancing again, pushing further above the $1800USD per ounce level – but only just:
Mainland Chinese shares are flat going into the end of the session, with the Shanghai Composite up a handful of points at 3625 points while the Hang Seng Index is up slightly, lifting 0.2% to 23149 points. Japanese markets also doing a bit better with Nikkei 225 closing 0.5% higher at the 28723 point level while the USDJPY pair is staying highly elevated but not yet punching through the overnight high to remain only just above the 114 handle at last weeks high:
Australian stocks had a modest session higher, with the ASX200 closing up 0.3% to 7387 points while the Australian dollar has been unable to advance on its overnight gains, still hovering just above the 72 handle as it heads into the London open and still not making a new weekly high yet:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures are holding on to their overnight gains with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing price hovering just below the 4700 point level as the market is only 1% shy of its all time high – can it reach it before Christmas?
The economic calendar is very US-centric with the latest durable goods orders, core personal expenditure and Michigan consumer confidence prints.