Asian Stock Market: All set to end 2022 on a positive note despite challenges from China

• Asia-Pacific equities fail to justify market’s fears of Covid, Russia-Ukraine tussles amid year-end inaction.
• Softer US data weighs on hawkish Fed bets, allowing shares buyers to keep the reins.
• Hopes of easy rates in 2023, economic recovery keep stocks on the bull’s desk amid sluggish yields.

Asian stocks grind higher as traders brace for a positive close to the volatile 2022 during the last trading of the year. While portraying the mood, the MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rises nearly half a percent whereas Japan’s Nikkei 225 remains sluggish by the press time.

On a broader front, US 10-year Treasury yields fade the previous day’s pullback from the six-week high and take rounds to 3.83% whereas the S&P 500 Futures print mild losses around 3,865 despite Wall Street’s positive closing.

Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) third consecutive day of bond market action joins the mixed sentiment to keep the Yen as the market’s favorite and probe the Nikkei 225. On the other hand, the hopes of a peak in the virus numbers in China and the discovery of an anti-Covid pill favor equity market optimism in Australia and China.

It should be noted that the strong economic performance of India in 2022 puts it on the bull’s radar and helps BSE Sensex to print mild gains despite inactive markets.

Wall Street closed higher after mixed US data pushed back hawkish Fed expectations amid an absence of Fedspeak. That said, US Initial Jobless Claims rose 225K versus 216K prior for the week ended on December 24 while the Continuing Jobless Claims increased by 1.71M from 1.669M previous readout during the week ended on December 16. However, the 4-week moving average for the same dropped to 221K versus the revised down previous readings of 221.25K. It's worth noting that the US Dollar struggles for clear direction while prices of Gold and Oil remain mildly bid at the latest.

Even so, doubts over China’s Covid numbers and multiple restrictions on Chinese travelers curb optimism surrounding Beijing’s unlock. On the same line could be the recent escalation in the Russia-Ukraine tussles.

Elsewhere, Indonesia’s IDX Composite prints mild gains as Indonesia's President Joko Widodo has signed an emergency regulation to replace the controversial job creation law, his chief economics minister said on Friday, a law that the Constitutional Court had ruled was flawed in 2021, per Reuters.

Moving on, a virtual meeting between China President Xi Jinping and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will be important to watch for traders. On the same line, the US Chicago Purchasing Managers’ Index for December, expected 41.2 versus 37.2 prior, will decorate the calendar. Following that, Saturday’s official readings of China Manufacturing and Non-Manufacturing PMIs for the current month should be eyed for one last view in 2022.