Stocks tread water as investors enter pre-holiday mode

Dec 19, 2019: Stock markets traded mostly sideways on Thursday as investors unwound positions ahead of Christmas and a rally fuelled by a China-US trade pact lost steam.

London and Wall Street posted gains, but traders reported that neither impeachment proceedings in the US nor interest rate decision in Europe sparked much excitement.

The US House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump, but he is unlikely to be removed from office by the Republican-held senate.

"Markets are brushing off the impeachment of Donald Trump as political theatre without economic consequence," said Jasper Lawler at LCG.

Michael Hewson at CMC said financial markets had given the news "a collective 'meh', while IG analyst Chris Beauchamp quipped that "the president, it seems, could offer to sell Alaska back to Russia and the Republican party might still not vote to impeach him".

AFP/APP