Asian stock markets are mixed in the final session of the year on Friday, following the lackluster cues from Wall Street overnight, amid optimism about the likelihood of near-term interest rate cuts by the US Fed, but traders are cautious and remain reluctant to make significant moves going into the end of the year and ahead of the New Year's long weekend. Asian markets ended mostly higher on Thursday.
Giving up some of the gains in the previous two sessions, the Australian stock market is modestly lower on Friday, following the lackluster cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 7,600 level, with losses across most sectors led by gold miners and technology stocks.
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Market Analysis
May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.