Friday, 29th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
Breaking News:

Dollar Gains While Oil Extends Rally After Holiday

By Bloomberg news
27 December 2016   |   9:39 am
The dollar rose against most major currencies while oil continued its longest winning streak in four months as most major financial markets reopened after a long holiday weekend.
Bay Ismoyo | AFP | Getty Images

Bay Ismoyo | AFP | Getty Images<br />

The dollar rose against most major currencies while oil continued its longest winning streak in four months as most major financial markets reopened after a long holiday weekend.

The yen slipped for the first time in five sessions while the euro was also lower versus the U.S. currency. Crude advanced for a seventh day before OPEC and other producing nations start reducing output. European shares climbed as trading resumed after the holiday, though the U.K. market remains closed for the day. Japan’s Topix index gave up earlier gains to finish lower for the fourth straight day, while the Shanghai Composite Index also dropped.

Trading is expected to be thin this week as financial markets close out a volatile year. U.S. equities are near a record, the dollar is around a multiyear high and crude oil has climbed to a 17-month peak as traders have powered past shocks from the Brexit vote in the U.K. to Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election.

“The financial markets seem to have already priced in expectations toward a Trump presidency, and are shifting toward a market that’s waiting to gauge his actual policies,” said Hideyuki Ishiguro, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities Co. in Tokyo. “We also have a lack of market participants with overseas markets closed.”

Financial markets in the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong are shut, while those in the U.S. and most of the rest of Europe resume trading after a holiday Monday. Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed, trading near the highest level in more than a decade. The euro slipped 0.1 percent, and the yen weakened 0.2 percent. While the Japanese currency gained 0.5 percent last week, it’s still about 15 percent from a high in August. The South Korean won fell 0.5 percent against the dollar, after strengthening for the first time in nine sessions on Monday.
Commodities

Crude futures advanced 0.5 percent to $53.28 a barrel in New York. Prices are set to recover next year as supply cuts help rebalance an oversupplied market, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said last week. OPEC and 11 nations from outside the group including Russia have agree to trim about 1.8 million barrels a day from January. Gold rose 1 percent to an almost two-week high of $1,144.45.
Stocks

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.2 percent. The benchmark gauge was little changed last week after touching the highest point of the year. It is still down 1.4 percent for 2016. Japan’s Topix fell 0.1 percent and is down 0.7 percent this year. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average was little changed and is up 1.9 percent this year. Data on Tuesday showed Japan’s consumer prices dropped in November, though analysts see a weaker yen and higher oil prices helping bring some modest price gains in the coming year. Toshiba Corp. dropped as much as 16 percent on reports it may book a loss of as much as 500 billion yen ($4.3 billion) on its U.S. nuclear operations. The Shanghai Composite Index slid 0.3 percent. Data showed Chinese industrial companies’ profits rose 14.5 percent in November from a year earlier. China’s economy is closing out the year on a high note as the earliest December indicators show no sign expansion is faltering. The Jakarta Composite Index rose 1.6 percent, advancing for the first time since Dec. 9 to end its longest losing streak since 2005.

In this article

0 Comments