Emerging market stocks were little changed yesterday as investors looked for more details on a truce in the US-China trade war, while Turkey’s lira slipped to a two-month low amid heightening political tensions with the United States. MSCI’s broad basket of developing world stocks was trading nearly unchanged at an 18-month high reached the day before.
The index, which added Saudi Aramco yesterday, has rebounded in December after a year of trading marked by struggling local economies and worries of a global recession. Shares in China and South Korea ended yesterday off multi-month highs touched a day earlier on optimism fuelled by an initial trade deal announced by Washington and Beijing last week.
The news had also propelled global stocks to a record high, but lack of details on the agreement have made investors wary.
Although US officials said over the weekend the deal was “totally done”, it has not yet been signed by the two sides. “Now we wait and see if the phase one deal is actually signed or not,” said David Rees, emerging markets strategist at J Safra Sarasin Asset Management.
“And you’re going to be trying to negotiate a phase-two deal in a US election year, so there’s clearly chances that this story is going to come up again and hurt sentiment at some point.”
In Turkey, the lira fell for the fourth day as the US Senate passed legislation, which among other demands calls for tougher action over Turkey’s purchase of Russian missile systems.
The South African rand eased 0.2% against the dollar.
from Gulf Times https://ift.tt/36K0gtC
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