Asia shares start Dec on weak note, dollar on back foot
By Stella Qiu
SYDNEY (Reuters) — Asian shares edged lower, starting the last month of the year on a weak note after recent rally, although anticipated interest rate cuts in Europe and the United States should help ease pressure on local currencies and central banks.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.4% after a surge of 7.3% last month, the most since January. Japan's Nikkei was flat, having also jumped 8.5% in November in the best month in three years.
Europe, however, set to open higher, helped by wagers of early and aggressive rate cuts by the European Central Bank after surprisingly soft inflation numbers. EUROSTOXX 50 futures rose 0.4% and FTSE futures gained 0.6%.
«Our sense is that quite a lot of the good news is already in the price. A little bit of profit-taking and rebalancing have probably played in the month-end, obscuring the messaging we typically get from the price action,» said Rodrigo Catril, a senior FX strategist at the National Australia Bank (OTC:NABZY).
Oil prices, which slid more than 2% overnight as output cuts by OPEC+ producers underwhelmed, remained subdued even as Israel's military said it has resumed combat against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, after a seven-day truce, raising the prospect of renewed violence in the Middle East. [O/R]
Brent crude futures slipped 0.2% at $80.67 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures was little changed at $75.94 a barrel.
Regional surveys of purchasing managers showed factory activity in Asia remained weak. Japan's factory activity shrank at the fastest pace in nine months while South Korea's factory activity were unchanged after 16 months of contraction.
Mixed factory activity data for China pointed to still feeble
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