ZCZC
BCN-22
ASIA-MARKETS-UPDATE
Asian stocks up after Xmas tech results cheer Wall Street
HONG KONG, Dec 27, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Asian markets mostly rose on Friday
following another strong lead from Wall Street where tech stocks won big with
strong Christmas results.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq finished above 9,000 for the first time on Thursday,
hitting its 10th straight record fuelled by gains by e-commerce behemoth
Amazon and other tech giants. The Dow and the S&P 500 also closed higher.
Hong Kong put on 1.1 percent and Shanghai gained 0.2 percent, while Sydney
and Seoul were also higher.
But Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.4 percent with low
investor participation ahead of the year-end holidays.
A report by Mastercard Spending Plus estimated that holiday shopping sales
rose by a better-than-expected 3.4 percent this year, with e-commerce taking
a bigger bite of overall sales.
US consumers’ “willingness to open the purse strings has offset declining
business investment in the face of the trade war and economic uncertainty”,
Stephen Innes, chief Asia market strategist at AxiTrader, said in a note.
Amazon jumped 4.5 percent after boasting of another “record” performance
this season.
Other tech giants including Apple, Google parent Alphabet and Facebook all
gained at least one percent.
“Santa Claus appears to have returned to Wall Street overnight… dropping
off another round of goodies for investors,” Jeffrey Halley, senior market
analyst for Asia-Pacific at OANDA, said in a note.
“Wall Street’s ‘buy everything and win’ afterglow will inevitably spill
over to Asia today with most of the region back at work.”
The holiday spending results have added to the positive sentiment across
trading floors following the US-China trade thaw, and the expectation that
the “phase one” deal between Washington and Beijing will be finalised next
month.
MORE/HR/1433
ZCZC
BCN-23
ASIA-MARKETS-UPDATE 2 LAST HONG KONG
Markets have been spooked since US President Donald Trump launched his
trade war against China, and analysts have voiced fears about the impact of
the bruising spat on global economic growth.
Both main oil contracts remained steady, driven by US-China trade hopes
and sustained demand, analysts said.
Brent Crude was flat, and West Texas Intermediate was 0.2 percent higher.
“Optimism about trade helped the outlook for global growth and with it the
demand for oil while the US consumer is showing few signs of tightening their
purse strings, which is positive for oil also,” wrote AxiTrader’s Innes.
– Key figures around 0630 GMT –
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.4 percent at 23,837.72 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng: UP 1.1 percent at 28,158.58
Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,012.63
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2994 from $1.2995
Euro/pound: UP at 85.56 pence from 85.55 pence
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1118 from $1.1119
Dollar/yen: UP at 109.50 from 109.46
Brent Crude: UP five cents at $67.97 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP nine cents at $61.77 per barrel
New York – Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 28,621.39 (close)
New York – Nasdaq: UP 0.8 percent at 9,022.39 (close)
New York – S&P 500: UP 0.5 percent at 3,239.91 (close)
BSS/AFP/HR/1435