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 hit a more than four-month high on Monday (September 1) as speculation of a US Federal Reserve interest rate cut this month and a weaker dollar boosted bullion's appeal, while silver broke through $40 an ounce for the first time since 2011. Spot gold rose 0.9% to $3,477.89 an ounce at 08:47 GMT, reaching its highest level since April 22. US gold futures for December delivery rose 0.9% to $3,548.0. Spot silver jumped 2.7% to $40.72 an ounce, its highest since September 2011. The US dollar traded near its lowest level since July 28 against a basket of major currencies, making...
The dollar extended its recent decline as investors built bearish positions ahead of Friday's key US employment report. Spot volumes were around 70% of recent averages, with European flows nearly one-sided, according to Europe-based traders. Demand for bearish greenback exposure to Friday's figures began late last week and maintained its bias as September trading began. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%, down for a fifth day; a close lower this week would mark the longest losing streak since April 2023. The Labor Day holiday in the US will keep spot and options volumes...
Oil prices have held steady in a narrow range recently as traders focused on concerns about a potential oversupply and signals of Russian oversupply. Brent traded near $68, holding within the $65 to $70 range it has held for the past month. India denied increasing US pressure to end Russian crude imports, with the country's oil minister saying the purchases help protect the global economy from price spikes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Vladimir Putin at a regional summit in China. Trading on Monday is likely to be light due to the Labor Day holiday in the US. Global oil benchmarks...
The USD/CHF pair trades with caution near 0.8000 during the Asian trading session on Monday. The Swiss France pair struggles to gain ground as investors turn extremely cautious ahead of an array of United States (US) labor market-related data publishing this week. At the time of writing, the US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the Greenback's value against six major currencies, trades close to the monthly low around 97.60. Market participants will pay close attention to US job-related data to get cues about the current status of the labor market. A significant downward revision in the...
The GBP/USD pair edges higher to near 1.3520 during the early European session on Monday. The growing prospect that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will lower borrowing costs at least twice by the end of this year undermines the US Dollar (USD) against the Pound Steerling (GBP). Technically, the constructive outlook of GBP/USD remains in play, with the price being well-supported above the key 100-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) on the daily chart. The upward momentum is reinforced by the 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) that stands above the...