European stock markets should remain calm before Christmas – archyworldys

by Laetitia Volga

PARIS (Reuters) – The main European stock markets open for Christmas Eve are expected to drop slightly on Friday on profit taking after gains driven by fears about the Omicron variant of the coronavirus ebb.

According to the futures contracts, the Parisian CAC 40 could lose 0.11% at the opening and the FTSE in London would fall by 0.37%.

London will close at 12:30 GMT and Paris at 13:05 GMT. The stock exchanges in Frankfurt, Milan and New York among others will remain closed.

On Thursday, the CAC 40 and Stoxx 600 hit their highest level in a month after three straight sessions of the rise, supported by studies indicating that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus may have less severe effects than the Delta variant on patients. infected people, which led to a renewed appetite for risk.

“Omicron looks more like a short-term disruptor to the economic outlook than a destructive factor that would deviate the economy from its course,” said Edward Moya, senior analyst at OANDA.

A WALL STREET

Major Wall Street indices posted solid gains for a third straight session on Thursday, with the S & P-500 closing at a record high on encouraging news on the health and economic impact of the Omicron variant.

The Dow Jones gained 0.55% to 35,950.56 points, the S & P-500 gained 0.62% to 4,725.79 points and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.85% to 15,653.37 points.

Over the week, they gained 1.7%, 2.3% and 3.2% respectively.

IN ASIA

The Nikkei index in Japan closed almost at breakeven (-0.05%) and in low volumes in the absence of many investors, the Tokyo Stock Exchange having erased its gains after the announcement of the detection of four case of COVID-19 in the Japanese capital.

“Investors have sold the stocks linked to the economic stimulus. But late-session weakness will not affect the market beyond next week when foreign investors are back,” said Shoichi Arisawa at IwaiCosmo Securities.

Stock markets in China ended down, penalized by the decline in energy values ​​and concern about the local transmission of COVID-19. The city of Xian, which has 13 million inhabitants, entered lockdown on Thursday due to the increase in COVID-19 cases.

The CSI300 index fell 0.55% and the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.69%.

CHANGES / RATES

On the exchange side, largely deserted with the end of year celebrations, the euro is stable at 1.1329 dollars.

The ten-year German Bund yield was stable at around -0.25%, after peaking for one month on Thursday at -0.235% thanks to improving market sentiment.

OIL

The benchmark Brent contract is trending down after three sessions of gains which allowed it to take more than 7%.

It lost 0.43% to 76.52 dollars a barrel.

“It’s a typical vacation session,” said Chiyoki Chen, analyst at Sunward Trading. “As concerns over Omicron fallout fading, attention is already on OPEC + ‘s next move [le 4 janvier]”added the analyst who estimates that the organization will stick to its decision to increase production by 400,000 barrels per day as long as oil prices remain above $ 70.

US light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) ended Thursday with a gain of 1.37% to 73.79 dollars.

(edited by Blandine Hénault)