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Amundi Asia Pacific Market Monthly Commentary - December 2021
Wednesday 19 January 2022
Market Commentary
Global equity markets rose in December despite the surging number of Omicron cases globally. Fears over Omicron abated towards the end of the month as investors took note of how the new variant turns out to be milder than previous ones and found the negative impact on mobility more manageable.
At its December FOMC meeting, the Fed doubled its pace of tapering to $30 billion per month and removed the phrase ‘transitory inflation’ from its statement. The reaction from markets was muted, reflecting how the acceleration of bond purchase withdrawal was widely anticipated. Investors instead found themselves confronting the uncertainty surrounding the pace and magnitude of US rate hikes.
Against this backdrop, MSCI Asia ex Japan Index was up 1.20% in December (in USD terms, net dividends excluded), underperforming the MSCI World Index which returned 4.19% (in USD terms, net dividends excluded).
