Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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Asian shares inch down, dollar extends gains in holiday trade

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SINGAPORE: Asian shares were fractionally lower on Friday in holiday-thinned trade but were on track for a solid advance this week, while oil and the dollar retained gains in the wake of strong US corporate earnings.


European markets were heading for a quiet start, with financial spreadbetter CMC Markets predicting Britain’s FTSE 100 would open flat and France’s CAC 40 would start the day down 0.1 per cent.


It forecast that Germany’s DAX, which on Thursday closed at its highest level since May 2015, would open 0.2 per cent lower.


MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.1 per cent, with several markets closed for the Lunar New Year holiday. It was on track to end the week up 1.85 per cent.


Japan’s Nikkei closed up 0.3 per cent, after data showed December core consumer prices fell at the slowest annual pace in nearly a year, suggesting inflation should pick up in coming months.


The Nikkei posted a 1.7 per cent gain for the week.


Markets in China were shut for the Lunar New Year holiday, and will reopen on February 3. Hong Kong shares barely moved on Friday, when the market closed at midday.


Overnight on Wall Street, all three major indices hit life-time intraday highs, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average also rising 0.2 per cent to close at a record high after breaching 20,000 on Wednesday.


The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq edged back down to end the day a touch below Wednesday’s record close.


The MSCI World index was steady on Friday. It hit a record intraday high on Thursday before ending the day about 0.1 per cent below its previous close.


European shares climbed to a one-year high on Thursday, lifted by Johnson & Johnson’s $30 billion deal to buy Swiss biotech firm Actelion.


The Mexican peso tumbled about 0.8 per cent against the dollar on Friday after the White House said the US might impose a 20 per cent tax on Mexican imports to pay for a border wall between the two countries.


That followed Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s decision to pull out of a meeting in Washington after his US counterpart Donald Trump tweeted that it would be better for the Mexican leader not to visit if his country wouldn’t pay for the wall.


Trump’s office later walked back the idea of a tax, saying that was “one way” of making Mexico pay.


The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against its trade-weighted rivals, was up 0.35 per cent at 100.73 on Friday. On Thursday, it touched a seven-week low but closed up 0.35 per cent.


The index is set to end the week flat, after market jitters following Trump’s protectionist inaugural speech weighed on the dollar early in the week.


The dollar rose 0.4 per cent to 115.14 yen, extending Thursday’s 1.3 per cent surge and putting it on track for a 0.5 per cent weekly gain.


The prospect of higher US inflation boosted US 10-year Treasury yields to 2.5158 per cent on Friday. On Thursday, they hit 2.555 per cent, their highest level this year, before settling back down at 2.508.


The euro slid 0.15 per cent to $1.06655 on Friday, adding to its 0.6 per cent loss from Thursday.


In commodities, oil retained its gains from Thursday that were driven by the resurgence of risk appetites. But a jump in US inventories this week capped its advance. US crude was little changed at $53.78 a barrel, after Thursday’s near 2 per cent surge. It is poised for a 2.6 per cent weekly increase.


Global benchmark Brent eased 0.1 per cent to $56.19, heading for a rise of 1.3 per cent for the week.


Gold widened losses on Friday, its fourth straight session of declines, as investors dumped the precious metal for riskier, higher returning assets.


Spot gold fell 0.5 per cent to $1,182.30 an ounce, heading for a 2.3 per cent loss for the week, its first weekly decline in five. — Reuters


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