Record closes on Wall Street, Asia cautious
Wall Street rose modestly overnight as receding omicron fears continued attracting buyers out of cover and back into equities, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones having record closes. The S&P 500 rose by 0.14%, the Nasdaq eased by just 0.10%, and the Dow Jones rose by 0.25%. Most price action needs to be taken with a grain of salt at this time of the year, but the omicron rear-view mirror trade appears to be favouring value overgrowth right now. In Asia, some long-covering has appeared, pushing futures on all three slightly lower by 0.05%.
Asia is having a mixed day in contrast, and it appears that some pre-New-Year’s-Eve book squaring is weighing on some markets. Japan’s Nikkei 225 has fallen by 0.35%, with South Korea’s Kospi down by 0.40%. Mainland China is enjoying a firm session, helped by dovish MoF comments earlier this morning that China would guide interest rates lower for 2022 government bond issuance. The Shanghai Composite is 0.80% higher, while the CSI 300 has jumped by 1.05%. Hong Kong is just 0.30% higher, a successful SenseTime IPO balanced by a slump in Evergrande stock after the company once again missed two offshore bond payments on Tuesday, totalling around USD 220 million
Singapore has eased by 0.30%, while Taipei and Jakarta are just 0.05% lower, and Kuala Lumpur is down 0.10%. Bangkok is 0.05% higher with Manila closed for a public holiday. Similarly, Australian markets are also subdued ahead of New Year, the ASX 200 and All Ordinaries edging 0.10% lower. Asia, ex-China, looks to have closed their books for the year.
