SEOUL, South Korea – Asian stock markets mostly drifted higher on the final trading day of 2017 Friday after Wall Street finished with modest gains.
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KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s Nikkei 225 finished 0.1 percent lower at 22,764.94. The Tokyo benchmark index rose 19 percent in 2017. China’s Shanghai Composite Index added 0.2 percent to 3,301.20. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 0.3 percent to 29,949.05. But Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 went south. It fell 0.4 percent to 6,065.10. South Korean stock markets closed on Thursday.
ANALYST’S TAKE: Looking back the year of 2017, “markets have been disturbingly sanguine about risks,” such as North Korean nuclear threats and the U.S. government’s new foreign policy to put American interest first, said Mizuho Bank Ltd. in a daily commentary.
WALL STREET: U.S. stocks finished with on Thursday, one day before the final trading day of this year. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.2 percent to 2,687.54. The Dow gained 0.3 percent to 24,837.51. The Nasdaq added 0.2 percent to 6,950.16. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks picked up 0.3 percent to 1,548.93.
OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude rose 40 cents to $60.24 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose 20 cents to settle at $59.84 per barrel on Thursday. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, gained 40 cents to $66.56 per barrel in London.
CURRENCIES: The dollar declined to 112.66 yen from 112.88 yen while the euro strengthened to $1.1954 from $1.1945.
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BITCOIN: The price of bitcoin rose 3.8 percent to $14,980.97 as of 0642 GMT, rebounding from a slide, according to the tracking site CoinDesk.
