Asian markets were mixed on Friday as investors awaited fresh catalysts to drive business, although with a China and the US agreeing to a trade deal and Christmas approaching, many were in wind-down mode.
Wall Street provided yet another record-breaking lead, with all three main indices being helped to all-time highs by news that a revised US-Canada-Mexico pact had finally been agreed.
Concerns that pen had not yet been put to paper on the China-US pact were soothed by US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, who said that a technical review was being undertaken and that the agreement would be signed early next month.
Regional equities swung back and forth through the morning session, with investors now turning an eye to the festive break and observers indicating that next year could see further gains.
“Agreement of the ‘phase one’ deal between the US and China has removed quite a lot of the uncertainties in the outlook for 2020,” AxiTrader senior market analyst Stephen Innes said.
“And with the global growth revival trade looking better and better by the day, equity investors are reveling in the holiday cheer,” he added.
In Taipei, the TAIEX on Friday fell 59.82 points, or 0.5 percent, to 11,959.08, but still gained 0.3 percent from a close of 11,927.73 on Dec. 13. Turnover totaled NT$168.719 billion (US$5.58 billion).
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 on Friday slid 48.22 points, or 0.2 percent, to 23,816.63, dropping 0.9 percent from 24,023.10 a week earlier.
The Shanghai Composite on Friday dropped 12.13 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 3,004.94, but surged 1.3 percent from 2,967.68 on Dec. 13.
Sydney fell 0.3 percent and Manila sank more than 1 percent, while there were also losses in Jakarta and Bangkok.
However, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng on Friday ended up 70.86 points, or 0.3 percent, at 27,871.35, a gain of 0.7 percent from a close of 27,687.76 a week earlier.
Seoul’s KOSPI on Friday gained 7.62 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,204.18, surging 1.6 percent from 2,170.25 on Dec. 13.
Mumbai edged higher, while Wellington and Singapore were flat.
Oanda Corp senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley was also upbeat on the near-term outlook, saying: “Stock markets will continue to trace out new highs into the early part of 2020 at least, barring a trade hiccup.”
Additional reporting by staff writer
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