ASX200: A Quiet Economic Calendar Leaves COVID-19 and U.S Futures to Influence

According to the November survey,

• Total new business rose at the slowest rate for 3-months and only marginally overall, with foreign demand rising modestly.
• Measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 had weighed on new order inflows.
• Strong business confidence and efforts to expand capacity led to a further increase in employment. The rate of job creation was the quickest since May.
• Average input prices increased for a 17^th consecutive month, with the rate of inflation accelerating to a 6-month high.
• Prices charged, however, rose at a softer pace in November.
• Firms remained strongly confident, however, that output will increase over the next year.

The Market Movers

It was a bullish day for the banks. CBA and Macquarie Group ended the day up by 0.74% and by 0.57% respectively. ANZ and NAB led the way, however, rising by 1.27% and by 1.30% respectively, with Westpac gaining 1.17%.

The commodity stocks had a mixed session. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd and Newcrest Mining fell by 0.87% and by 1.04% respectively. Rio Tinto and BHP Group made gains of 1.40% and 1.31% respectively, however.

Other Asian Markets

Elsewhere, it was a mixed session. The CSI300 and the Nikkei 225 rose by 0.92% and by 1.00% respectively, while the the Hang Seng Index ended the day down by 0.09%.

The Day Ahead

It’s a particularly quiet day ahead on the Aussie economic calendar. There are no major stats to provide direction through the session.

The lack of stats will leave COVID-19 news updates and U.S futures to provide direction. Overnight losses from the U.S on Friday will likely test support going into the open.