Morning Briefing: Black Friday gloom for Chinese equities

Black Friday gloom for Chinese equities... Stores subdued, online gains... Bank hit with record fine...

Steve Randall
Black Friday gloom for Chinese equities
China’s stocks have slumped Friday as fear spread following regulators announcing investigations into alleged trading rules breaches. The main Shanghai index closed more than 5 per cent lower and the rest of the region was subdued with the major indexes closing with moderate losses.

In Europe markets have reacted to the Chinese sell-off but most indexes are gaining on regional issues, in particular the prospect of ECB stimulus which is keeping sentiment high.  

As Black Friday sales kick off Wall Street is expected to open higher following Thanksgiving. Trading is expected to be brisk as the NYSE will close again at 1pm ET.

Toronto is also expected to open higher after a moderate gain in the previous session.
 
  Latest 1 month ago 1 year ago
 
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones 17,813.39 (+0.01 per cent) +1.08 per cent -0.08 per cent
TSX Composite 13,425.19 (+0.16 per cent) -2.00 per cent -10.03 per cent
 
Europe (at 6.00am ET)
UK FTSE 6,375.93 (-0.27 per cent) +0.17 per cent - 5.17 per cent
German DAX 11,337.80 (+0.15 per cent) +6.04 per cent +13.66 per cent
 
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300 3,556.99 (-5.38 per cent) -1.00 per cent +29.13 per cent
Japan Nikkei 19,883.94 (-0.30 per cent) +5.89 per cent +15.28 per cent
 
Other Data (at 6.00am ET)
Oil (Brent) Oil (WTI) Gold Can. Dollar
44.94
(-1.14 per cent)
42.02
(-2.37 per cent)
1064.70
(-0.50 per cent)
U$0.7500
 
Aus. Dollar
U$0.7208
 
Stores subdued, online gains
The US Thanksgiving holiday provided a mixed day for retailers according to early reports. Bricks and mortar stores were busy, some were packed, but Fox Business reports that online sales were the bigger story with a 22 per cent increase in spending compared to last year. Between midnight and 5pm there was $1 billion spent online in the US according to Adobe Digital Index. Analysts are expecting 20 per cent of holiday shopping to be done over the four day holiday.
 
Bank hit with record fine
British-based global bank Barclays has been fined a record 72 million pounds (U$109 million) by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority. The fine was for not carrying out sufficient background checks on clients and their cash and concealed a $1.9 billion transaction, even from its own staff. No criminal activity was alleged however the FCA said that the measures taken to protect high-net-worth clients “threatened confidence” in the UK’s financial system.
 

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