Global Stocks Follow U.S. Markets Higher

By Anna Hirtenstein

Global markets edged up in low-volume trading Friday, after U.S. stocks touched new records on signs of a strong Christmas retail season and easing trade tensions.

Stock indexes across the European continent posted gentle gains after a mixed session in Asia. The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.4%.

"Today's definitely about the performance of U.S. equities," said James Athey, a senior investment manager at Aberdeen Standard Investments. "We're seeing the broader equity markets playing along, it's very difficult for European markets to ignore what's happening in the U.S."

In premarket trading, some U.S. technology stocks rose after the tech-heavy Nasdaq reached an all-time high and crossed 9000 for the first time. Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices added 0.9% and semiconductor company Qualcomm gained 1.3%. Tesla climbed 0.7%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed 1.3% higher after a two-day break, its strongest finish in more than five months, while Korea's Kospi gained 0.3%. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.4%, weighed down by losses in mining and food companies.

"The weeks entering the Christmas break were characterized by a positive market mood and nothing has happened to change this attitude," said Luca Cazzulani, a strategist at UniCredit. "The way the calendar is set makes the end of this year even thinner than usual, you have very few trading days at the turn of the year. Most people will be taking today off, particularly in Europe."

U.S. stock futures advanced slightly after major stock indexes hit fresh records on the back of strong holiday sales. Contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 climbed 0.3%.

E-commerce giant Amazon said it had its best holiday season to date, selling billions of items from its site and tens of millions of Amazon devices.

The dollar slipped the most since Dec. 2, with the ICE Dollar Index falling 0.4% as trade tensions continued to ease between the U.S. and China. The currency weakened 0.5% against the euro and 0.9% against the pound.

"Broadly speaking there's a number of potential negative stories that have gone away, such as the trade tensions, so investors are more comfortable selling the dollar against broad risk-facing currencies," Aberdeen's Athey said. "But the volatility is massively exacerbated by the illiquidity in today's market."

Write to Anna Hirtenstein at anna.hirtenstein@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 27, 2019 08:56 ET (13:56 GMT)

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