Originally published December 31, 2019
Overview: With many financial centers closed for the solar New Year, last-minute profit-taking and positioning are evident. After posting modest declines, albeit the most in a few weeks, the losses in Europe and the US yesterday carried into the Asia-Pacific session today. Most of the markets that were open fell, led by a 1.7% decline in Australia, which finished the year up a little more than 18%, its best year in a decade. Malaysia, the worst-performing Asian market, lost 1.65% to bring the year's decline to -6%. China bucked heavy