Emerging-market assets gained on Monday as China-US trade tensions eased, while the Russian rouble strengthened against a weaker dollar during its last trading day of the year.
The relaxation in US-China friction and reduced uncertainty around Brexit has helped spur demand for riskier assets, putting the MSCI's index for equities on track to end December with its biggest gain in 11 months.
The index was up 0.1%, after China's Commerce Ministry said on Sunday it had "proactively dealt with" the trade conflict with the United States this year.
"Easing trade worries and less Brexit uncertainty were the two key components of December's equity rally... " Hussein Sayed, chief market strategist at FXTM, wrote in a note.
"As fears of a global recession have dissipated and the manufacturing cycle looks to be heading for a U-turn in the first half of 2020, expect to see some rotation fromthe US into emerging markets."
MSCI's index for emerging-market currencies rose 0.2%, as most currencies in the developing world gained against the dollar, which weakened as demand for safe-haven assets waned.
Russia's rouble gained beyond 62 to the dollar on Monday and headed towards its strongest levels since 2018.The rouble became the second-best-performing currency against the greenback in 2019 after the Ukrainian hryvnia.
The Moscow Exchange will remain shut from Dec. 31 to Jan. 2, the onset of Russia's long New Year and Orthodox Christmas holidays.
The Turkish lira was flat after Turkey's central bank changed foreign-currency reserve requirements, withdrawing some $3 billion of foreign-exchange liquidity from the market.
However, data showed Turkey's economic confidence index rose for the third consecutive month in December.
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