Regional markets brace for busy week ahead

SINGAPORE and other regional markets head into December with a busy week, as investors shift their focus to key events - Brexit, US and China economic data releases, an Opec meeting - beyond the G-20 summit.

After a highly anticipated dinner at the sidelines of the G-20 meeting, China's President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump agreed to put on hold new tariff increases for 90 days, marking a significant de-escalation in trade tensions between the world's two biggest economies.

Aninda Mitra, senior sovereign analyst at BNY Mellon Investment Management in Singapore, said: "I would see this as a short-term risk-positive development and safe havens should underperform in coming days - the markets will be elated."