Asia trades mixed, ASX sheds 2% for the year
Asian markets were treading water on the final trading day of 2015, with investors eyeing oil prices for further clues after a turbulent year for stocks.
The Australian market, which closed early, shed over 2 percent for the year as lower commodity prices hit many stocks on the main index.
Overnight, oil prices fell over 3 percent. During Asian trade, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures saw some uptick, trading 0.38 percent higher at $36.74 a barrel. The global benchmark Brent futures was up slightly at $36.63 a barrel.
Major U.S. indexes closed in the red, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 117.11 points, or 0.66 percent, at 17,604. The S&P 500 finished 0.72 percent lower at 2,063 while the Nasdaq Composite index shed 0.82 percent to close at 5,066.
The Japanese and South Korean markets remain closed today. On Wednesday, the Nikkei 225 rounded off a 9.3 percent gain for 2015. Stock markets in Hong Kong and Singapore will also shut earlier than usual.
Australia market sheds 2 percent for the year
The ASX 200 finished the final trading day of the year in the red, down 24 points, or 0.45 percent, at 5,295. For the whole year, the index shed 2.13 percent.
“In real terms, the performance of the index has been incredibly disappointing, only gaining 1.5% over the past five years for a compound annual growth rate of only 0.3%.,” said Angus Nicholson, market analyst at spreadbetter IG, adding, “Of course, when one factors in dividend reinvestments the total return of the index has been somewhat better.”
Shares of major Australian banks closed down between 0.05 and 0.43 percent.
Resources producers were also mostly down with Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, two of the biggest miners in the country, closed 0.16 and 1.27 percent lower, respectively. For the whole year, Rio Tinto shares were down 23 percent while BHP shares fell 49 percent.
On Wednesday, iron ore futures were up as much as 4 percent, with the overnight spot price rising to a four-week high.
Iron ore for immediate delivery to China’s Tianjin port was up at $42.50 a tonne as iron ore producers closed mixed.
Energy plays also ended in negative territory on the back of the decline in oil prices.
The Australian dollar traded up at 0.7296 against the U.S. dollar at market close.
China dips into negative territory
Chinese markets traded lower with the main Shanghai Composite index slipping into the red, down 0.61 percent at 3,550. The smaller Shenzhen Composite was down 1.3 percent. Away from the mainland, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index trimmed morning gains to trade up 0.14 percent.
The yuan traded near flat at 6.492 against the dollar.
Chinese energy plays were trading mixed with Hong Kong-listed shares of CNOOC, PetroChina, and Sinopec Corp down between 0.42 and 1.83.
Elsewhere, China Animal Healthcare, which is partly owned by Eli Lilly and Co, said it was looking for five years-worth of financial documents that were lost. A truck carrying the documents was stolen, according to reports. Its shares were not yet trading.
The chairman and chief executive of China Telecom, the country’s third-largest mobile operator, resigned yesterday. Prior to his resignation, Chang Xiaobing was detained by China’s anti-graft watchdog.
Shares of China Telecom traded down 0.55 percent.
Source: CNBC – Asia trades mixed, ASX sheds 2% for the year
