Asia markets enjoy pre-Christmas cheer

HONG KONG: Most Asian markets on Friday saw in the Christmas break on a positive note, picking up the baton from Wall a sell-off despite a victory for Catalan separatists in a snap poll.

Global equities rallied over the past year on hopes Donald Trump’s key election promise to cut taxes would boost corpo soon after the bill was passed this week.

However, buying perked up again Thursday on bets that the tax reform economy, while there was also cheer for news that lawmakers had agreed a deal to avert a painful government shutdown.

“A day after being nonplussed with the House and Senate, it seems stock traders decided that yes, after all, they do think the tax cuts will help valuations and the economy,” said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader.

Hong Kong up 0.3 percent, Sydney adding 0.2 percent and Singapore putting on 0.3 percent.

Tokyo’s Nikkei closed 0.2 percent higher, while Seoul, Wellington, Taipei and Jakarta were also stronger. But Shanghai dipped 0.1 percent. better earnings results and have a positive impact on the economy,” Hideyuki Ishiguro, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo, told Bloomberg News.

‘Reality check’

However, Stephen Innes, head of AsiaPacific trading at OANDA, warned of possible headwinds for 2018, pointing

out that Trump could struggle to push through a planned $1 trillion infrastructure bill in the face of low poll ratings and possible mid-term election losses.

On currency markets the euro edged down but held its own after Catalan separatists won the crucial election Thursday, fuelling fresh uncertainty in Spain, one of the eurozone’s biggest economies.

The vote came after a failed independence bid earlier this year rattled Europe and triggered Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.

While pointing out there had been little immediate negative impact on the single currency, Innes said the result “would deal a significant blow (to) Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy that could potentially escalate”.

Bitcoin sank 20 percent to briefly sit just above $13,000 for the

The volatile cryptocurrency kicked the week off with a bang, hitting $19,500 as it extended its astonishing rise but it has suffered losing a third of its value since its Monday high.

Investors are having a “reality check”, Innes said. “At the heart of the matter was a frenzied demand for coins with limited supply has now led to unsophisticated investors holding the bag at the top.”

At its height, Bitcoin had soared almost 30-fold since the start of the year and has moved into the - changes began trading futures in the unit.