Stocks inch higher in
holiday lull
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[December 27, 2016]
By Patrick Graham
LONDON
(Reuters) - Share prices inched higher on Tuesday as trading in some of
the world's major financial markets resumed after a Christmas break,
with oil and the dollar also rising marginally.
Concerns about Italian banks, Chinese growth and U.S. President-elect
Donald Trump's protectionist bent look set to keep investors on edge
into the start of 2017.
But expectations the new administration will splash out on a fiscal
boost for the U.S. economy also has markets expecting inflation and more
growth overall that should benefit companies globally.
Data on Tuesday showed Chinese industry racked up its strongest profit
growth in three months in November, suggesting the world's
second-largest economy was improving.
In Japan, however, core consumer prices fell in annual terms for the
ninth month as household spending slumped.
"Markets have calmed down a lot since the U.S. election and the
decisions by the ECB and Fed (earlier in December)," said Daniel Lenz, a
bond market strategist with DZ Bank in Frankfurt.
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"There is a feeling that some of the expectations after the Trump
election may have been exaggerated and now it is a question of waiting
to see what the U.S. government will look like when it finally takes
shape."
Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 both gained just over 0.1 percent and
U.S. markets were seen opening similarly. [.N] British markets were
closed for a holiday, along with those in Australia, New Zealand and
Hong Kong.
Earlier, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan had
risen 0.2 percent while Japan's Nikkei closed little changed.
"It is the time of the year when markets trade with hushed tones,"
Jingyi Pan, market strategist at IG, wrote in a note. "The magnitude of
moves could remain capped with thin market trades expected to remain the
case."
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A red London bus passes the Stock Exchange in London, Britain,
February 9, 2011. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor/File Photo
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China's CSI 300 index was down 0.1 percent and the Shanghai Composite slipped
almost 0.2 percent, despite the upbeat industrial data.
The
yen fell following the inflation numbers but was still around 1 yen stronger
than lows hit after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised dollar interest rates two
weeks ago.
In a currency market expected to trade conservatively into the end of the year,
strategists say they will be watching chiefly for any sign of a squeeze in the
cost for banks of borrowing dollars relative to other currencies.
Such costs - called the cross currency basis - have been rising and could
support the dollar over the next few days.
"The rise in the euro dollar basis is an argument for dollar strength. Plus you
have the fundamental factors going into the beginning of next year that point
(that way)," said Lutz Karpowitz, a strategist with Commerzbank in London.
"But so far it really has been quiet."
U.S. crude rose 0.4 percent to $53.23 a barrel, supporting the stronger
tone ahead of Wall Street opening. [O/R]
(Reporting by Nichola Saminather, Abhinav Ramnarayan and Danilo Masoni)
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