Asian equity markets started the week lower, following US index futures on a day when oil prices continued to fall (currently below the $65 a barrel mark) and gold prices they contracted (-2,1%) due to the Swiss vote against the possibility of holding 20% of the Central Bank's assets in the yellow metal. The dollar was up at least 0,2% against the yen, Australian dollar, Swiss franc and Korean won.
In particular, it reached a four-year high against the Australian dollar (which lost 0,9% to 84.27 against the dollar). The MSCI Asia Pacific index lost 0,3% in the morning in Tokyo, at due to the decline of the Australian and South Korean markets. Japanese markets, on the other hand, advanced. China's manufacturing index dropped to 50.3 in November, falling short of analyst forecasts (50.5).
Markets are now awaiting data on Japanese manufacturing and the euro area along with reports on the US sector, where trading resumes after the Thanksgiving break. "Concerns about disinflation and deflation are fueled by what we see happening in the energy and commodity sectors," said Richard Gibbs, global head of economics at Macquarie Group, Australia's largest investment bank. "Clearly the Saudis' decision not to cut production has strong geopolitical overtones."
Saudi Arabia, OPEC's largest oil exporter, was largely responsible for last week's decision to keep output at the current 30 million barrels per day.
