Financial market review for december 19 2017

Financial Market Review for December 19 2017 Asian stocks advanced on Tuesday after a record-setting session on Wall Street on bets that U.S. lawmakers would pass sweeping tax legislation, while the dollar was tentative as traders were circumspect about the bill’s economic impact.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.4 percent.

Japan’s Nikkei bucked the trend and slipped 0.15 percent.

In the US equity market, Wall Street hit record highs on Monday on growing optimism about lower corporate tax rates as the Republican tax bill moved closer to passage.

In the currency market, the dollar index against a basket of six major currencies was effectively flat at 93.656 after losing 0.25 percent overnight, as some traders questioned the overall economic impact of the tax overhaul.

The dollar was also capped by doubts the tax reforms will be able to drive sizable repatriation of funds back into the United States as expected.

The euro nudged up 0.1 percent to $1.1793. The dollar was little changed at 112.600 yen having pulled back from a high of 112.840 overnight.

In commodities, oil prices were modestly higher following a North Sea pipeline outage but losing a bit of support after a nationwide oil worker strike was called off in Nigeria.

Brent crude futures rose 7 cents to $63.48 per barrel, while U.S. crude futures were 17 cents higher at $57.33.

Spot gold rose 0.2 percent to $1,263.66 per ounce.

Oil markets edged up on Tuesday as the Forties pipeline outage in the North Sea and voluntary production restraint led by OPEC supported prices, although soaring output in the United States put a cap on gains.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $57.33 a barrel at 0526 GMT, up 17 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last settlement.

International Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $63.55 a barrel, up 14 cents, or 0.2 percent.

There has been little price movement in recent trading, with Brent moving within a $63.00 to $63.91 per barrel range since last Friday.

Some upward pressure was taken off after an oil worker strike was called off in Nigeria, traders said.

Further price support has been coming from voluntary supply cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and a group of non-OPEC producers including Russia.

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Financial Market Review for December 19 2017 Finally in Japan, Japan’s government revised up its growth projections for the current and next fiscal years, forecasting the economy to expand 1.9 percent and 1.8 percent respectively on the back of steady improvement in domestic demand, the Cabinet Office said on Tuesday.

Consumer inflation is estimated at 0.7 percent for this fiscal year and 1.1 percent next, underscoring the challenge for the central bank to accelerate inflation to its 2 percent target as prices continued to lag an economy growing at a steady pace.

The gross domestic product projections compared with earlier estimates by the Cabinet Office of 1.5 percent and 1.4 percent growth respectively in the current and next fiscal years.

Japan’s economy has expanded at a steady pace this year, lifted by surging exports growth that has kept the manufacturing sector humming. A key conundrum for policymakers remains persistently low inflation that is complicating the Bank of Japan’s efforts to exit its massive stimulus.

The government’s growth estimates were higher than those seen by the central bank and most privatesector economists, while the inflation projections are more subdued than the central bank’s rosy forecasts .

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