Oil prices stabilized on Thursday (February 12th), as the market reassigned a risk premium to US-Iran tensions despite US inventory data showing swelling domestic supplies. This movement confirms one thing: geopolitical headlines are still more "noise" than signals of a short-term surplus. As of 3:50 PM WIB, Brent was at $69.60/barrel (+0.29%) and WTI was at $64.83/barrel (+0.31%). The gains were moderate, but enough to keep prices near the psychological $70 level for Brent. From a geopolitical perspective, market focus is on the potential for escalation in the Middle East. Recent reports...
Hong Kong stocks rose 55 points, or 0.2%, to 26,210 in early trading on Tuesday (November 4), posting a second consecutive session of gains. Market sentiment was boosted by positive comments from Chief Executive John Lee, who revealed that Hong Kong had recorded 80 initial public offerings (IPOs) in the first ten months of 2025, underscoring the strength of the city's capital market. Furthermore, Chinese Vice President He Lifeng expressed hope for increased economic and financial cooperation between Hong Kong and mainland China, further strengthening Hong Kong's position as a global...
Japanese stocks declined on Tuesday (April 11th), following a sharp rise earlier. The Nikkei index fell 0.5%, reaching 52,136.68, with the retail and technology sectors leading the losses. Aeon Co. shares fell 4.6%, while Recruit Holdings fell 3.6%, indicating profit-taking after a period of significant gains. Despite the Japanese market's decline, investors are still paying close attention to policy developments from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Policy measures taken by the Japanese government could provide further clues about the direction of the country's economy. Investors are still...
Asian stocks opened lower on Tuesday, reversing Wall Street's rally fueled by Amazon's massive $38 billion deal with OpenAI. Stock markets in South Korea and Japan weakened after a long holiday, while Australian stocks fell ahead of central bank interest rate decisions that are expected to remain unchanged. Although the S&P 500 posted a small gain on Monday, more than 300 of its members declined. In other markets, the US dollar strengthened slightly, while gold fell 0.2%. The Japanese yen also weakened. Major tech deals from Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet have given Wall Street renewed...
The S&P 500 rose on Monday, led by tech, as a new month of trading began. The benchmark gained 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 18 points. Micron Technology gained 5% to lead chipmaker stocks higher. Nvidia and AMD were up 3% and around 1%, respectively. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) climbed 1.6%. Other tech names such as Meta Platforms and Palantir gained 1.2% and 2%, respectively. The moves came after data center company Iren reached a multiyear $9.7 billion deal with Microsoft to provide the megacap technology company...
European stocks opened slightly higher in November, with the STOXX 50 and STOXX 600 gaining 0.2%, after closing near record highs in October. Investors continued to digest recently released corporate earnings while awaiting new market catalysts. Bank and automaker stocks posted gains, with Unicredit, BBVA, Deutsche Bank, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW all rising more than 1%. BP rose 1.5% after agreeing to sell a stake in its US shale assets to Sixth Street for $1.5 billion. Nokia shares rose nearly 4%. Conversely, Ryanair fell nearly 2% despite posting slightly better-than-expected profit after...
The Hang Seng Index surged 252 points, or 1%, to close at 26,158 on Monday, reversing losses from the previous three sessions amid broad sector gains. Sentiment was boosted by the US-China trade truce, which includes US tariff reductions and the suspension of Beijing's new export restrictions on rare earth minerals and magnets. The US is also expected to suspend port fees for a year for ships connected to China starting next week. Local data supported the rally, with Hong Kong's economy growing 3.8% year-on-year in Q3, the fastest since late 2023, while retail sales rose 4.8% in September,...
Hong Kong stocks edged up 47 points, or 0.2%, at the start of November trading, reaching 25,949. This increase helped the market recover after three consecutive sessions of losses. The gains were primarily driven by financial and property stocks, supported by strengthening US futures after Wall Street posted weekly and monthly gains. Sentiment also improved after the White House announced that China would lift rare earth export controls and end investigations into US semiconductor companies in a new trade deal. Economically, Hong Kong reported 3.8% year-on-year growth in the third quarter,...
Asian stock markets moved mixed on Monday, November 3, 2025. Japan led the gains: the Nikkei 225 remained near its record high of around 52.4 thousand, helped by euphoria over technology stocks and domestic stimulus sentiment. Real-time LSEG data on Reuters marked a daily gain of more than 2% this session. In South Korea, early sentiment was also positive. The Kospi opened up more than 1%, driven by defense and shipbuilding stocks, while Australia remained flat in early trading. Hong Kong remained cautious; Hang Seng futures rose only slightly, as the market awaited new catalysts from...
Gold rises in the early Asian trade. There's a broad commodities uptrend, driven by macro uncertainty, a weaker dollar, and persistent demand for "hard" assets, says Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst...
Oil extended declines after OPEC+ agreed to a bigger-than-expected production increase next month, raising concerns about oversupply just as US tariffs fan fears about the demand outlook.
Brent...
The Japanese Yen (JPY) weakened against its US counterpart and reversed part of Friday's recovery from the lowest level since July 23 following Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda's remarks....