Morning Briefing: Equities mixed on regional issues

Equities mixed on regional issues... Major wealth fund cuts coal-fuelled assets...

Steve Randall
Equities mixed on regional issues
Equity markets are mixed Wednesday as Asian investors weigh regional corporate issues and European indexes are subdued following Monday’s terrorist attack in Germany.

Asian indexes were mixed with Shanghai and Sydney leading the gains while Tokyo and Seoul lost ground.

Europe’s major markets are generally lower with Germany’s DAX just tipping into positive territory. With news that German authorities did not have enough evidence to hold their original suspect for the IS-backed attack on a Christmas market, the search for the perpetrator continues and investors are cautious.

Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open higher. US existing home sales data is due.
 
  Latest 1 month ago 1 year ago
 
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones 19,974.62 (+0.46 per cent) +5.37 per cent +15.78 per cent
TSX Composite 15,292.96 (+0.15 per cent) +1.68 per cent +17.33 per cent
 
Europe (at 5.00am ET)
UK FTSE 7,043.34 (-0.01 per cent) +3.92 per cent +16.86 per cent
German DAX 11,468.93 (+0.04 per cent) +7.33 per cent +9.19 per cent
 
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300 3,338.54 (+0.89 per cent) -2.98 per cent -13.64 per cent
Japan Nikkei 19,444.49 (+0.26 per cent) +7.39 per cent +2.79 per cent
 
Other Data (at 5.00am ET)
Oil (Brent) Oil (WTI) Gold Can. Dollar
55.59
(+0.53 per cent)
53.54
(+0.45 per cent)
1135.90
(+0.20 per cent)
U$0.7479
 
Aus. Dollar
U$0.7254

 
Major wealth fund cuts coal-fuelled assets
A major wealth fund has made further cuts to its portfolio of assets with firms that are related to coal.

Bloomberg reports that Norway’s $870 billion sovereign wealth fund has dropped 15 companies, taking the total banned to 44, following a government target which calls for investment only in firms that rely on coal for less than 30 per cent of their activities.

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