Credit: REUTERS/THOMAS WHITEBy Shreyashi Sanyal
Dec 31 (Reuters) - Emerging-market equities slipped on Tuesday as investors booked profits following recent gains, while currencies got a lift from a weaker dollar on the last day of trading this year.
Demand for riskier assets has grown as trade tensions between the United States and China eased and uncertainty around Brexit declined. The MSCI's index for emerging-market stocks .MSCIEF is on track to end December with its biggest monthly rise in 11 months.
The index was down 0.2% during the session. It has gained 15.6% in 2019.
"While market volumes are predictably light, investors continue to strike a year-end cautionary tone as December optimism is gradually giving way to 2020's uncertainty," Stephen Innes, the chief Asia market strategist at AxiTrader, wrote in a note.
MSCI's index for emerging-market currencies .MIEM00000CUS rose 0.2% on the day, as lower demand for safe-haven investments kept the dollar in check. The index is on track to gain for a fifth straight session.
South Africa's rand ZAR= rose, holding on to gains from previous sessions triggered by a global investor hunt for high yields, and was one of the outperformers.
The rand has gained about 5% since mid-December, despite a raft of data releases showing a weak economy and nationwide blackouts by state power company Eskom, with investors willing to overlook the negatives and pocket the high yield.
Turkey's lira TRY= traded in a range against the dollar. Data showed Turkey's foreign trade deficit leapt 232.2% year-on-year in November to $2.234 billion.
For GRAPHIC on emerging market FX performance 2019, see http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging index performance 2019, see https://tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX
For TOP NEWS across emerging markets
For CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see CEE/
For TURKISH market report, see .IS
For RUSSIAN market report, see RU/RUB
(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru, editing by Larry King)
((Shreyashi.Sanyal@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223 8780; +91 961 144 3740; Twitter: https://twitter.com/s_shreyashi;))
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