The Hang Seng Index reversed its downward trend in Hong Kong on Thursday (February 12th), weakening by around 0.9% to around 27,000 after a strong session earlier. This decline halted the momentum of the short term rally, as investors began to reduce risk in large cap stocks. Among the index's contributors, Tencent was a major drag, with its shares falling by around 2.3%, putting pressure on the technology sector, which has recently been a driving force behind market gains. Weakness in large cap companies like this typically quickly impacts sentiment due to their significant weighting in...
Gold prices fell on Thursday (September 4), slightly off record highs as investors locked in profits, while attention turned to key US employment data for further insight into the Federal Reserve's policy direction. Spot gold prices fell 0.4% to $3,542.97 per ounce as of 08:38 GMT. US gold futures for December delivery fell 0.9% to $3,601.40. Spot gold prices hit a record high of $3,578.50 on Wednesday amid growing speculation of a US Federal Reserve interest rate cut and lingering geopolitical and economic uncertainty. "The market is overbought and needs to correct," said StoneX analyst...
The US dollar edged higher against the slightly weaker Swiss franc, as an unexpected contraction in Swiss consumer prices in August fueled speculation that the SNB will cut interest rates to negative levels in the coming months. The pair edged up from Wednesday's low of 0.8025, but remains trapped in a tight range below the 0.8060-0.8070 area. Investors are cautious about placing large dollar bets ahead of key US fundamental data releases. Swiss inflation remained stable, growing at an annual rate of 0.2% in August, unchanged from the previous month. However, monthly inflation contracted...
The EUR/USD pair traded slightly lower at 1.1650 at the opening of the European session on Thursday (September 4th). The pair continues to search for direction, not far from the lower end of its trading range over the past few weeks, ahead of the Eurozone Retail Sales report. However, the main focus is on the US ADP Employment Change, due today, and, especially, the US Nonfarm Payrolls report on Friday. On Wednesday, weak US JOLTS Job Openings data added to evidence of a weak labor market and raised expectations of an imminent Federal Reserve (Fed) interest rate cut. This view was confirmed...
Silver slipped 1% to around $40.7 per ounce on Thursday, easing from 14-year highs as investors locked in profits ahead of key US labor market releases. Precious metals have rallied in recent weeks as traders increased bets on Federal Reserve rate cuts, with markets pricing in nearly a 98% chance of a 25 basis point reduction this month. On Wednesday, data showed US job openings fell more than expected to 7.181 million in July. Attention now turns to the ADP private payrolls and weekly jobless claims due later today, followed by the August jobs report on Friday. Safe-haven demand also lent...
The Australian dollar was little changed to around $0.654 on Thursday, holding its recent gains, supported by stronger-than-expected trade balance figures. Australia's goods trade surplus widened to AUD 7.31 billion in July, the largest in 17 months and well above expectations of AUD 5.0 billion. The improvement was driven by a 3.3% rise in exports to a 21-month high of AUD 46.02 billion, following strong gains in June, while imports fell 1.3% to AUD 38.71 billion, weighed by softer demand for non-monetary gold. The Aussie also drew support from recent data showing upbeat Q2 GDP growth,...