The dollar fell broadly on Thursday as trade was extremely light, with Tokyo and several European countries on holiday ahead of the new year

House prices ended 2009 5.9 per cent higher than they were a year earlier, according to the Nationwide index, in a sign of the surprising strength of the housing market

  The final trading day of 2009 has kicked off with a strong equity market performance across Asia (Hang Seng +1.75%, Shanghai Composite +0.45%); sealing the biggest annual gain for Asian stocks since 2003. The rally in equity markets globally has been extremely impressive in the past 12 months; with the MSCI World Index set for a 27% annual gain, and benchmark indices for the BRIC economies…