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...
The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.7% and the S&P 500 gained 0.3% on Friday, led by a 10.8% surge in Amazon shares after the company said cloud revenue climbed 20% in the third quarter and beat estimates, lifting tech names broadly. The Dow traded up 60 points. Palantir and Oracle added 3% and 2.8%, repsectively, on AI optimism and Nvidia also traded higher. Elsewhere, Netflix rallied 2.9% on an announced 10 for 1 stock split and Tesla jumped 3.1%. Energy names diverged as Chevron rose 1.9% on stronger earnings and Exxon Mobil slipped 1.5% after a profit decline. On the other hand, Meta fell...
The Nikkei 225 jumped 2.12% to close at 52,411, while the broader Topix Index rose 0.94% to 3,332 on Friday, with Japanese stocks hitting fresh record highs amid a strong rally in technology shares. The advance followed gains in US stock futures after upbeat earnings and sales forecasts from Apple and Amazon lifted sentiment across the tech sector. Among top performers, Advantest gained 3.9%, SoftBank Group 2.9%, and Fujikura 1.8%. Hitachi also surged 7.2% after reporting a 62% jump in first-half net income, while Socionext soared 16.7% on strong results. In contrast, Nissan Motor tumbled...
The Hang Seng Index plunged 376 points, or 1.4%, to close at 25,907 on Friday, marking its third consecutive session of decline amid widespread declines across sectors. Market sentiment weakened after China's official PMI showed manufacturing activity contracted at its fastest pace in six months in October, while service sector growth remained weak. Meanwhile, the temporary US-China trade truce failed to boost confidence, with investors viewing it as a short-term respite rather than a meaningful breakthrough. Further pressure came after US Federal Reserve Chairman Powell signaled that a...
European stocks edged lower on Friday (October 31st), with the STOXX 50 and STOXX 600 down 0.1%, as corporate earnings remained in focus and investors continued to assess the impact of the recent US-China trade truce. Among the stocks moving, Electrolux was one of the worst performers, falling more than 2.8% after a strong rally in the previous session. Saint-Gobain extended its losses, falling more than 2%, while ASML Holding (-0.8%) and Shell (-1.3%) also traded lower. Conversely, Anheuser-Busch (2%) was among the gainers. (alg) Source: Trading Economics
The Nikkei 225 index closed higher on Thursday (October 31, 2025), driven by strong gains in technology and electronics stocks. Positive sentiment emerged after the Bank of Japan maintained its policy interest rate, while a weaker yen boosted the profit prospects of export-based issuers. Large-cap stocks, including chip, electronics, and internet stocks, led the gains. Investors also assessed the easing of US-China trade tensions following the Trump-Xi meeting, which boosted risk appetite despite not providing long-term certainty. Overall, the Nikkei closed up around 1% and held at 52.4....
The Hang Seng Index opened slightly lower by 0.07% to 26,263 on Friday (October 31st), moving flat after a 0.2% decline in the previous session to 26,283. This cautious movement occurred amid mixed sentiment: some technology stocks weakened, while the market digested news of a US-China trade truce that had not yet fully boosted risk appetite. Data-wise, China's manufacturing PMI contracted again in October, signaling continued pressure on the factory sector and curbing the Hong Kong stock market rally. Meanwhile, Asian market analysts noted that regional stocks are likely to strengthen this...
Asia-Pacific markets opened mostly higher on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 rising more than 1% to a new record, as investors reacted positively to the truce between Washington and Beijing following a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders reached a trade deal in their high-stakes meeting in South Korea on Thursday, easing tensions over rare earth elements that had threatened to escalate into a full-blown trade war. "Both sides appear to be preserving leverage for future negotiations by using these measures as bargaining chips," said...
Japanese stocks are higher as the yen weakens sharply following the Bank of Japan's decision to keep its policy rate unchanged on Thursday. Tech and electronics stocks are leading gains. SoftBank Group is up 2.6% and Sony Group is 3.0% higher. USD/JPY is at 153.89, up sharply from 153.04 as of Thursday's Tokyo stock market close. Investors are closely watching any progress in Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's policy steps to boost the economy. The Nikkei Stock Average is up 1.0% at 51826.46. Source: Bloomberg
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....