Yen Breaks Winning Streak While Oil Extends Rally: Markets Wrap 

• Stocks in China and Japan fluctuate after economic data

• Crude advances for seventh day, longest stretch in four months

The yen halted a four-day advance, while oil continued its longest winning streak in four months as some major financial markets reopened after a long holiday weekend.

The yen slipped after climbing 0.7 percent over the previous four sessions. Most other currencies were lower against the dollar too, apart from the Indonesian rupiah, which rose 0.2 percent. Crude advanced for a seventh day before OPEC and other producing nations start reducing output. Stocks in Japan and China fluctuated. Financial markets in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong are shut on Tuesday, while those in the U.S. and most of Europe will resume trading after a holiday Monday.

Trading is expected to be thin this week as financial markets close out a volatile year. U.S. equities are trading 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.”

Currencies

• The dollar was higher against most major currencies, with the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index trading near the highest level in more than a decade.
• The yen weakened 0.3 percent to 117.40 per dollar. While the currency gained 0.5 percent last week, it’s still about 15 percent from a high in August.
• The South Korean won fell 0.4 percent against the dollar, after strengthening for the first time in nine sessions on Monday.

Commodities

• Crude futures advanced 0.2 percent to $53.12 a barrel in New York. Prices are set to recover next year as supply cuts help to rebalance an oversupplied market, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said last week. OPEC and 11 nations from outside of the group including Russia have agreed to trim about 1.8 million barrels a day from January.
• Gold rose 0.3 percent to $1,136.80, still trading near the lowest level since February.

Stocks

• Japan’s Topix was up 0.1 percent as of 1:00 p.m. in Tokyo. The benchmark gauge is down 0.5 percent for the year, while the Nikkei 225 Stock Average has gained 2.1 percent. 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.
• South Korea’s Kospi Index added 0.2 percent, advancing for a third day.
• The Shanghai Composite Index was little changed, with construction firms gaining on government spending plans while energy stocks declined. 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 Stock Exchange Composite Index was up 1 percent, advancing for the first time since Dec. 9.

Source: Bloomberg – Yen Breaks Winning Streak While Oil Extends Rally: Markets Wrap

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