ASX Comes Back Strong – China Up

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By Jacob Maslow

The Australian market (ASX) came back strong today after a 4 day trading holiday.

The ASX opened up slightly on return from the holidays, despite mining giant Rio Tinto  sliding further on negative forecasting for the mining sector.

The AUD also saw an uptick against the USD, trading at 0.7256 against the greenback.

In China, the Shanghai Composite finished slightly down at 3551.22, having started the day at 3569. Hua Xia bank finished up 3.67%, along with Air China which rose 2.1%, and the Industrial Bank which finished up 2.83%.

In Hong Kong, the HSI finished up from the open with China Shenhua Energy and the Bank of East China both seeing increases of more than 1%.

China traders will be keeping an eye on economic data set to emerge early in the New Year. Data is expected to underwhelm with analysts forecasting manufacturing PMI and exports to drop slightly.

Elsewhere in Asia the Nekkei225 climbed along with the KOSPI.

It remains to be seen whether to KOSPI will finish the year with an uptick or whether China jitters and potentially disappointing economic data due later this week will see it finish flat.

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