Declines in Mainland China have caused Asian stocks to struggle on Thursday. Energy stocks performed well on the day following a slight recovery in oil prices, which was fueled by news that United States oil inventories fell by 5.9 million barrels last week.
The increase in oil prices is expected to be short-lived by analysts that expect prices will be pushed down further in the beginning of Q1.
Wall Street’s overnight rally helped Asian markets by alleviating some losses, but did not do enough to boost the Shanghai composite. Sydney and Hong Kong markets will only be participating in a half day of trading on Thursday with the Christmas holiday on Friday. Tokyo and Shanghai will be the only large Asian markets that will remain open on Friday.
The Shanghai Composite Index (SHANGHAI) suffered a 0.64% loss on the day. The Nikkei 225 (NIKKEI) suffered a 0.51% loss, while the KOSPI Index (KOSPI) suffered a loss of 0.43%.
Gains were experienced by the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX 200), up 1.28% on the day. The Hang Seng Index (HSI) was up 0.44%, and the CNBC 100 Asia IDX (CNBC 100) rose 2.51% on the day.
The Shanghai Composite snapped a two-day rally, and the yuan weekend to 6.4785 against the dollar. News that the People’s Bank of China will extend trading hours starting on January 4 was also released on Wednesday night.