While markets in most of Asia, Europe and the U.S. remained closed on Friday for the holiday, markets in China and Japan moved higher, ending the week with a marked recovery in the energy sector. The Shanghai Composite Index finished 0.43% higher to trade at 3,614.22 and the Japanese Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.11% to trade at 18,769.06. The Taiwanese Taiex index rose 0.2% to trade at 8,351.07. Other Asian markets, including Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore, were closed on Friday. However, when inspecting the entire week, Australia’s ASX 200 and the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index have gained around 2% each. Australian energy shares enjoyed a strong boost, adding 6.5% over the week, marking the sectors best performance since mid-November.
The Asian market has been recovering from a rout in commodity prices over the year, which has had far reaching effects in other markets’ energy and materials sectors. Crude oil rose higher on Thursday’s short trading session, ending a strong week of gains as U.S. stockpiles decline. Regardless, crude prices are still on track for large monthly and yearly losses due to the ongoing supply glut. Crude oil added 60 cents, or 1.65%, to trade at $38.1 a barrel, ending the week with a 5.7% gain. Despite of the strong weekly performance, crude oil is still on track for a monthly loss of 8.5%. Brent oil rose 53 cents, or 1.47%, to trade at $37.89 a barrel. Despite a weekly gain of 2.7%, brent oil fell more than 15% since the beginning of the month. On a yearly basis, crude oil is down 28% and brent oil is down 34%.
In currencies, the U.S. dollar continued its downtrend over the week as investors collected gains on the currency’s 2015 gains. The dollar lost some ground to the euro, falling 0.12% to trade at $1.0972. The dollar also fell against the yen, declining 0.14% to trade at ¥120.28. The trend was also reflected in the dollar index, which compares the greenback to six of its peers, as the index fell 0.36% to 97.99.
This week’s major economic data releases begin with Monday’s release of Japanese industrial production and retail sales. Spain’s retail sales data will be released on Tuesday, followed by U.S. consumer confidence. U.K. housing pricing and U.S. oil inventory data will be available on Wednesday, followed by U.S. employment data on Thursday. The week will conclude with Friday’s release of Chinese manufacturing data.