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 (XAU/USD) kicks off the week on a cautious note, trading flat to slightly higher on Monday, as the US Dollar (USD) stabilizes but remains under pressure in the aftermath of Friday's disappointing Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report. At the time of writing, the yellow metal is hovering near $3,375 during American trading hours, having bounced from an intraday low of $3,345, as traders remain cautious amid fragile sentiment and shifting Federal Reserve (Fed) interest rate cut expectations. July's jobs report delivered a clear downside surprise. The data has meaningfully increased the...
Oil prices fell Monday after a group of top producers announced plans to further increase production in September, while concerns over a cooling U.S. economy and trade tariffs also weighed. At 08:15 ET (12:15 GMT), Brent oil futures for September fell 1.8% to $68.38 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 2.1% to $65.89 a barrel. Both contracts registered gains last week as the U.S. threatened more sanctions on Russian oil, which could tighten global supplies. OPEC+ agrees to output hike in Sept The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, a group known...
Gold eased on Monday due to slightly firmer U.S. Treasury yields and profit-taking following last week's sharp rally driven by weak U.S. jobs data. Spot gold lost 0.2% to $3,356.91 per ounce, as of 1051 GMT, after rising more than 2% on Friday. However, U.S. gold futures gained 0.3% to $3,410.20. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield ticked higher from Friday's five-week low, dulling non-yielding bullion's appeal. "The market will remain range bound with today's pullback being in line with some the reversals seen across markets following Friday's big moves, especially yields which are a...
Oil prices dropped on Monday after OPEC+ agreed to another large output hike in September, though traders remained wary of further sanctions on Russia. Brent crude futures fell 85 cents, or 1.2%, to $68.82 a barrel by 0846 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude declined 82 cents, or 1.2%, to $66.51 a barrel. Both contracts closed about $2 lower on Friday. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, known as OPEC+, agreed on Sunday to raise oil production by 547,000 barrels per day for September, the latest in a series of accelerated output hikes to regain...
The Swiss Franc is the worst performer of the G8 currencies on Monday. Weak Swiss manufacturing data has offset the positive impact of the above-consensus inflation, while the US Dollar shows a mild positive tone following Friday's sell-off. Consumer inflation stalled in July, according to the CPI numbers released on Monday, which showed that the yearly inflation accelerated to 0.2% from 0.1% in the previous month, with the monthly CPI flat, against expectations of a 0.2% contraction, and following a 0.2% growth in the previous month. These figures ease pressure on the SNB to cut rates...