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...
The U.S. dollar will weaken steadily over the coming months on mounting concerns over the Federal Reserve's independence, the credibility of official statistics, ballooning fiscal debt and rising bets on interest rate cuts, a Reuters survey of foreign exchange analysts showed on Tuesday. Underscoring those concerns, President Donald Trump's dismissal of the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner last week over unproven claims of data rigging - following record downward revisions to job numbers - prompted a swift reversal of recent dollar gains from Trump's tariff deal with the EU. While...
Gold (XAU/USD) is edging higher on Tuesday after finding strong support near the $3,350 region, reversing an earlier pullback. The yellow metal had been drifting lower through the European session, struggling to extend Monday's rebound amid a firmer risk tone and a modest uptick in US Treasury yields. However, buyers stepped in near the 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA), lifting prices off intraday lows. The recovery is being supported by continued weakness in the US Dollar, as markets maintain a strong conviction that the Federal Reserve will cut rates in September. At the time of...
Oil prices slipped lower Tuesday, continuing recent losses as traders fretted over increased production and deteriorating demand amid increased global economic headwinds. At 08:05 ET (12:05 GMT), Brent oil futures for September fell 0.8% to $68.21 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 1% to $65.65 a barrel. Both contracts fell by more than 1% on Monday to settle at their lowest in a week. Oil battered by oversupply concerns, demand fears The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, a group known as OPEC+, over the weekend agreed to hike production by...
Gold futures retreat on rising risk-sentiment, though they remain higher on week. Futures are down 0.6% at $3,407.0 a troy ounce, though they remain up around 2.5% on week following Friday's weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report. The precious metal has come under pressure from a more stable dollar and improved risk appetite after Nonfarm Payroll data prompted an initial flight to safety, Exness analysts say in a note. Still, gold could remain supported by increasingly dovish monetary policy expectations, Exness' Van Ha Trinh says in a note. The disappointing data and significant downward...
The USD/JPY pair trades 0.35% higher to near 147.70 during the European trading session on Tuesday. The pair gains after attracting significant bids after refreshing the 10-day low around 146.60 earlier in the day. An underperformance by the Japanese Yen (JPY) has contributed significantly to a decent recovery move in the pair. The Japanese currency trades weakly even as the minutes of the Bank of Japan's (BoJ) June monetary policy meeting signal that officials are confident about raising interest rates further by the year-end. The support for further policy tightening from BoJ...