ASIA/PACIFIC
-The Australian stock market closed lower on Tuesday in contrast to Wall Street, which saw U.S. benchmarks notching record highs overnight following news that hedge fund manager Scott Bessent is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary.
-Asian markets traded mixed reacting to Trump’s threats of imposing 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada, along with 10% on China.
-Fitch puts some Adani bonds on negative watch as Sri Lanka weighs accusations. Meanwhile Adani stock losses reach $33 billion.
. EUROPE
-European stock markets closed lower as investors assessed the impact of renewed trade tensions.
-French political tensions also weighed on markets after Marine Le Pen said on Monday that she could bring down France’s minority government by the end of the year unless changes are made to the country’s budget bill.
-UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is “incompetent” and “defective” and attempts to transform itself over the past four years have been a “failure”, according to a damning report by a group of MPs, City AM reported.
. AMERICAS
North America
-The major U.S. stock indexes all moved to the upside over the course of the trading day on Tuesday.
Latin America
-Argentine Economy Minister Luis Caputo said Monday that the government doesn’t plan to turn to the international markets to cover upcoming debt payments in January.
. AFRICA
-The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced that remittances from Egyptians working abroad reached $20.8 billion in the first nine months of 2024, reflecting a 43% year-on-year (YoY) increase.
-The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has launched a crackdown on clandestine online lending services as part of a wider move to tighten regulatory structures for digital lending operations in the country, The East African reported.
-Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.46% year-on-year in real terms during the third quarter of 2024, according to the latest report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
. MIDDLE EAST
-Most major stock markets in the Gulf ended higher as investors took stock of a potential ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
-The GCC has yet to fully capitalise on the global sukuk rally, reflecting a shortage of domestic ESG sukuk investors and issuers, according to Fitch Ratings.
-Qatari banks record quarterly rise of 6.2% in net interest income in Q3 The Peninsula reported.
. COMMODITIES
GOLD
Spot gold was little changed at $2,628.99 per ounce, as of 1017 GMT, while U.S. gold futures were up 0.4% to $2,629.50.
SILVER-PLATINUM-PALLADIUM
Spot silver rose 0.6% to $30.47 per ounce, platinum edged 0.5% lower to $933.80 and palladium rose 1.2% to $984.44.
OIL
Brent crude futures rose 29 cents, or 0.4%, to $73.2 a barrel as at 0430 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at $69.2 a barrel, up 26 cents, or 0.38%.
