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...
Oil maintained a five-day losing streak, its longest losing streak since January, as investors looked beyond US efforts to punish buyers of Russian crude, while following President Donald Trump's diplomatic push to end the war in Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed at just under $65 a barrel after dropping to its lowest closing level since early June, while Brent closed just below $67. On Wednesday, Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50% due to the country's purchases of Russian energy, with the tariffs set to take effect in three weeks. However, no similar US...
The EUR/USD rallied more than 0.50% on Wednesday, boosted by broad US Dollar weakness across the board as traders began to price in rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. In addition, fears of the Fed's independence from the White House increased, as US President Trump said that he would nominate a replacement for the vacated seat by Fed Governor Adriana Kugler, who steps down on August 8. The pair trades at 1.1657 after bouncing off lows of 1.1564. The economic docket in the US was empty on Wednesday, though a slew of Fed officials crossed the wires. Boston Fed President Susan Collins revealed...
Gold price retreats in the North American session, weighed down by rising US Treasury yields, traders booking profits, and news that US President Donald Trump might name Fed Governor Adriana Kugler's replacement toward the end of the year. The XAU/USD trades at $3,372, down 0.23%. Bullion faltering to extend its rally, which extended for three days, is also attributed to traders booking profits, even though US President Donald Trump signed an executive order adding a 25% levy on India as the latter continues to purchase Russian Oil. India's new tariff, effective 21 days after August 7,...
Oil prices slid about 1% to an eight-week low on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks about progress in talks with Moscow created uncertainty on whether the U.S. would impose new sanctions on Russia. Brent crude futures fell 75 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $66.89 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 81 cents, or 1.2%, to settle at $64.35. Those moves marked a fifth consecutive day of losses for both crude benchmarks, with Brent closing at its lowest since June 10 and WTI closing at its lowest since June 5. Trump said on Wednesday that his special...
The dollar dropped on Wednesday and the euro hit a one-week high as traders bet that the Federal Reserve will cut rates more times than previously expected this year, following weaker than expected jobs data for July. With no major U.S. economic releases on Wednesday traders continued to focus on the implications from Friday's jobs report. U.S. employment growth was weaker than expected in July while the nonfarm payrolls count for the prior two months was revised down by a massive 258,000 jobs, suggesting a sharp deterioration in labor market conditions. The greenback fell sharply after...