* World shares pull back from record high
* Georgia Senate runoff seen as political risk
* Yuan lifted by PBOC fixing
* State of emergency weighs on Tokyo shares
* Oil hit by delay on output decision
By Marc Jones
LONDON, Jan 5 (Reuters) - World shares struggled on Tuesday
amid new COVID lockdowns in Europe and Senate runoff races in
Georgia that could affect incoming U.S. President Joe Biden's
ability to pursue his preferred economic policies.
Wall Street was expected to extend its worst start to a year
since 2016 .N and with volatility gauges up, the euro strong
and Germany expected to follow Britain with a lockdown
extension, European equities were under pressure. .EU /FRX
The FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 fell 0.5% as London .FTSE ,
Frankfurt .GDAXI , Paris .FCHI. and U.S. futures all dropped
between 0.2%-0.8%, leaving MSCI's main world index, which tracks
nearly 50 countries, .MIWD00000PUS flat too. .N
Markets were also watching to see whether Tuesday's Georgia
run-off election enables the Democrats to flip both Senate seats
and disrupt what markets have viewed as a delicate political
balance in Washington following November's election.
"The result could be quite crucial on how much leeway Biden
has to push his own agenda," said Wells Fargo Asset Management's
global head of multi-asset solutions, Matthias Scheiber.
Markets are likely to "move on" if the vote sees Republicans
maintain control of the Senate, Scheiber said, whereas they
could react to a Democrat win that would make additional fiscal
stimulus, but also stiffer regulation for the energy and tech
sectors, more likely.
"We could see quite a mixed market," he said, adding that
investors had also been increasingly looking to hedge their
equity positions following the recent strong rally.
The currency markets were in focus again too as the dollar's
slide continued.
Overnight China raised its official yuan exchange rate by
the biggest margin since abandoning its peg in 2005, which
helped support demand for other currencies and kept MSCI's
emerging-market currency index near the record high it had hit
on Monday. EMRG/FRX
In the international 'offshore' market, the yuan
strengthened as far as 6.4419 CNH=EBS for the first time since
June 2018. It started the week at 6.4944 and has now surged more
than 12% since May as China's economy has rebounded and
near-zero U.S. interest rates have cut the dollar's appeal.
"It's a very big move by any historical yardstick," said Ray
Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank in
Sydney. "And I don't think you can ignore that."
GEORGIA ON MARKETS' MIND
The high-flying euro also rose 0.2% to $1.22765 EUR=EBS
after reaching as high as $1.231 on Monday.
The British pound also regained 0.2% to sit at $1.3573
GBP= , having tumbled the previous day after a surge in COVID
cases in the United Kingdom forced another nationwide lockdown
until mid-February. In Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares
outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS ended at a record high thanks to
chunky gains in South Korean .KS11 and Chinese stocks.
Japanese shares .N225 lost 0.4% as the country saw
coronavirus infections hit record levels again. In Hong Kong, China Mobile 0941.HK , China Unicom
0762.HK , and China Telecom 0728.HK rallied by more than 6%
after the New York Stock Exchange suddenly scrapped plans to
de-list the companies' shares following a U.S. executive order.
S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones stock futures ESc1 were all
fractionally lower ahead of their restart. .N .
Both Georgia elections are tight and the results may not be
immediately known, which could lead to a repeat of the chaotic
vote re-counts after the U.S. presidential election in November.
Outgoing Republican President Donald Trump's call to
pressure Georgia's top election official to "find" votes to
overturn his loss to President-elect Biden in the state has also
unnerved some investors. "While a possible Democratic victory (in Georgia) could
raise concerns about more regulation, at least over the coming
months this might be outweighed by expectations of larger fiscal
stimulus," ING analysts wrote in a note.
In commodity markets, oil firmed as traders awaited a
meeting later on Tuesday where major crude producers are set to
decide output levels for February. O/R
Both Brent and U.S. crude futures LCOc1 CLc1 were up
1.6% at $51.90 and $48.40 a barrel respectively. Gold also
inched up 0.2% to $1,946 per ounce XAU= while cryptocurrency
Bitcoin, which surged 300% last year, steadied at $31,500 after
a sharp drop the previous day. BTC=BTSP GOL/
J.P.Morgan said in a research note that "speculative mania"
could push Bitcoin to between $50k-$100k, though it added that
such price levels "would prove unsustainable".
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World FX rates in 2021 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
China's yuan is on the charge https://tmsnrt.rs/3oiuJrZ
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