No Santa rally in sight as Christmas nears

THE much-delayed "Santa rally" remains elusive as most Asian markets opened the second last week of the year with slim gains, after risk appetite took a hit from lacklustre economic data out of China last Friday.

Stocks in Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul gained marginally at less than a per cent. The exception was Hong Kong, which ended the day flat.

That said, the weakness lingering in markets may prove an opportunity for punters looking for bargains, according to some observers.

"Buy-back was seen among shares in major companies following a sharp decline on Friday," Daiwa Securities senior technical analyst Hikaru Sato told AFP in Japan, although he noted that more time may be needed to improve market sentiment, as the buy-back was not strong enough t…