On Thursday, the last day of 2015, global stock markets were mostly down, as investors continue to monitor the dynamics of the oil market.
Today oil prices have had a modest gain after falling more than 3% in the previous session, when official statistics showed an unexpected rise of oil inventories in the United States.
US crude may show about a 31% decline for this year amid concerns on excessive domestic stocks of raw materials, while the price of Brent crude oil shows a decrease by 36% as concerns about oversupply dominated market sentiment for most of the year.
The shorter session in Asian stock markets, in which most of the markets are closed for the entire day or earlier, helped limit losses.
On the last trading day of the 2015, European indices decrease at the start of a shortened pre-holiday session. The markets in Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, Switzerland and Russia are closed on the eve of New Year Holiday. Spanish IBEX should close today at 14:00 CET.
Meanwhile, the US markets today will also hold a shortened session and will be closed all day on Friday in the first day of the New Year. The US stock market closed Wednesday trading with a decrease because of poor dynamics of oil and gas, raw materials, and telecommunications sectors. At the close on the New York Stock Exchange, Dow Jones decreased by 0.66%, S&P 500 fell 0.72%, and NASDAQ Composite dropped 0.82%.
Trading volumes are expected to remain low in the last day of the year, as many traders close positions on the eve of the holidays, reducing liquidity in the market and increasing volatility.
During European morning hours USD Index, which tracks the US currency against a basket of six major rivals, was up 0.15% to 98.45.
Meanwhile, gold prices have changed slightly in quiet trading. In 2015, gold futures may show a decline of 11%, falling for the third year in a row, as speculation on terms Fed rate rise were putting pressure on market sentiment for most of the year.