\ud83d\udcc9 Asian\u00a0Markets:<\/p>\n
On the final trading day of 2024, Asian stocks dipped in thin holiday trading.
MSCI Asia-Pacific Index: -0.2%, but up 8% for the year.
Markets closed in \ud83c\uddef\ud83c\uddf5 Japan, \ud83c\uddf0\ud83c\uddf7 South Korea, and \ud83c\uddf9\ud83c\udded Thailand.
Shortened sessions in \ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddf0 Hong Kong, \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\udded Philippines, \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa Australia, and \ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddff New Zealand.
\ud83d\udcca\u00a0China:<\/p>\n
Manufacturing PMI slowed in December: 50.1 (vs. 50.3 in November).
CSI 300: -0.4%
Shanghai Composite: -0.4%
Hang Seng: +0.7% \ud83d\udcc8
Non-Manufacturing PMI improved to 52.2 (from 50.0).
\ud83c\uddf0\ud83c\uddf7 South\u00a0Korea:<\/p>\n
Political turmoil deepens:
Arrest warrant approved for impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol following martial law declaration in December.
Acting President Han Duck-soo also impeached.
Nation mourns Sunday\u2019s Jeju Air crash (179 fatalities).
\ud83d\udcb1 Currencies:<\/p>\n
Most Asian currencies weakened vs. the dollar:
Dollar Index: 107.95 (-0.1%) but near 2-year highs.
USD\/JPY: 156.43 (-0.3%), on track for a 10% annual loss.
USD\/INR: Rupee hit record lows, down over 3% in 2024.
\ud83d\udee2\ufe0f Commodities:<\/p>\n
Oil Prices:
Brent: $74.64 (+0.8%)
WTI: $71.67 (+0.9%)
Both benchmarks face yearly losses (-3.2% & -0.6%).
Gold: $2,607 (flat), set for a 26% yearly gain, its best in a decade! \ud83c\udf1f
Silver: $29.31 (steady), Copper: $8,925 (-0.2%).
\ud83c\udf6b Top Performers:<\/p>\n
Cocoa & coffee dominated in 2024: Cocoa prices nearly tripled due to supply deficits.
\ud83d\ude97 Tech & Regulations:<\/p>\n
Beijing introduces regulations for autonomous vehicles.
From April 2025: Driverless public buses & taxis allowed post-safety checks.
Major players: Baidu\u2019s Apollo Go, Pony.ai, and Tesla (launching full self-driving in Q1 2025).
\ud83c\udf0d New Year\u2019s Eve Closures:<\/p>\n
Fully closed: \ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddea Germany, \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udded Switzerland, \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9 Italy, \ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddf7 Brazil, \ud83c\uddf0\ud83c\uddf7 South Korea.
Early closures:
\ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddf0 Hong Kong & \ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddec Singapore: 12:00
\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 UK: 12:30
\ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddff New Zealand: 12:45
\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddf8 Spain: 14:00
\ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7 France: 14:05
\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa Australia: 14:10
\ud83c\udf86 Wishing you a prosperous end to 2024 and a fantastic 2025!\u00a0\ud83e\udd42<\/p>\n
Morning Update: 31.12.2024<\/a> was originally published in Coinmonks<\/a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \ud83d\udcc9 Asian\u00a0Markets: On the final trading day of 2024, Asian stocks dipped in thin holiday trading.MSCI Asia-Pacific Index: -0.2%, but up 8% for the year.Markets closed in \ud83c\uddef\ud83c\uddf5 Japan, \ud83c\uddf0\ud83c\uddf7 South Korea, and \ud83c\uddf9\ud83c\udded Thailand.Shortened sessions in \ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddf0 Hong Kong, \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\udded Philippines, \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa Australia, and \ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddff New Zealand.\ud83d\udcca\u00a0China: Manufacturing PMI slowed in December: 50.1 (vs. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32316"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32316\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}