Asian stocks: Political pessimism weighs over US-China trade progress

Asian stocks remain broadly unchanged as traders turn cautious around the multi-month top.
US-China near to signing a phase-one deal but China’s Xi warns the US to stay out of internal issues.
Year-end holiday mood, lack of data add to the market’s inactive performance.

With the political tension between the US and Beijing likely to stop the economies from any longer future trade relations, the latest news of nearness to signing phase-one seems to have largely been ignored by the Asian traders. The lack of response could also be attributed to the proximity of holiday season and multi-month high posted by the key indices recently.

MSCI’s index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan takes rounds to 685.00 with no change from Friday’s closing. However, the gauge is up nearly 10% on a quarterly basis. Further, Japan’s NIKKIE also seesaws around 23,820 with no gain/losses after rising to 14-month high during the previous month. The equities fail to follow Friday’s gains of Wall Street after the US data turned down speculations of recession in the world’s largest economy.

Australia’s ASX 200 register losses close to 0.5% while New Zealand NZX 50 benefits from last week’s upbeat data while rising 0.60% by the press time of the pre-European session on Monday.

The US 10-year treasury yields fail to hold onto Friday’s recovery while declining back to 1.91% whereas stocks in India and China also stay mostly in losses amid increased odds of weak growth performance. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently said that industrial output from the nation is expected to grow by 5.6% in 2019 after registering 6.2% YoY growth in November.

Leaders of Japan and South Korea are in China to discuss trade and political issues. The diplomats will also shed light on risks from North Korea. Beijing has been playing the role to calm global ire against the hermit kingdom off-late.

Other than trade/political headlines, the market’s witness a lack of catalyst amid a year-end data lull and the same could limit equity’s performance.

Share: Feed news

Information on these pages contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Markets and instruments profiled on this page are for informational purposes only and should not in any way come across as a recommendation to buy or sell in these assets. You should do your own thorough research before making any investment decisions. FXStreet does not in any way guarantee that this information is free from mistakes, errors, or material misstatements. It also does not guarantee that this information is of a timely nature. Investing in Open Markets involves a great deal of risk, including the loss of all or a portion of your investment, as well as emotional distress. All risks, losses and costs associated with investing, including total loss of principal, are your responsibility. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of FXStreet nor its advertisers. The author will not be held responsible for information that is found at the end of links posted on this page.

If not otherwise explicitly mentioned in the body of the article, at the time of writing, the author has no position in any stock mentioned in this article and no business relationship with any company mentioned. The author has not received compensation for writing this article, other than from FXStreet.

FXStreet and the author do not provide personalized recommendations. The author makes no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of this information. FXStreet and the author will not be liable for any errors, omissions or any losses, injuries or damages arising from this information and its display or use. Errors and omissions excepted.

The author and FXStreet are not registered investment advisors and nothing in this article is intended to be investment advice.