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 prices rose on Thursday (July 24), boosted by expectations of Russian gasoline supply cuts and optimism over US trade negotiations that will ease pressure on the global economy, further boosted by a sharper-than-expected decline in US crude inventories. Brent crude futures rose 80 cents, or 1.17%, to $69.31 a barrel at 10:52 a.m. CDT (15:52 GMT). US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 97 cents, or 1.49%, to $66.22 a barrel. "Russia's willingness to cut gasoline exports is giving the market a boost," said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group. "The market is looking...
Gold fell as the latest US jobs report showed strength in the labor market, reinforcing the view that the Federal Reserve will maintain interest rates for the time being. US unemployment benefit applications fell for a sixth straight week, the longest losing streak since 2022. The dollar and bond yields pushed higher, weighing on bullion. Swap traders slightly trimmed their bets for interest rate cuts, projecting fewer than two cuts this year. Outflows from Chinese exchange-traded funds into gold also weighed on the market, according to Daniel Ghali, senior commodity strategist at TD...
Gold price (XAU/USD) trades almost 0.7% lower around $3,360 during the European trading session on Thursday. The precious metal faces a sharp selling pressure as global trade worries have eased amid hopes that the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) will close a trade agreement before the August 1 tariff deadline. On Wednesday, a report from Financial Times (FT) showed that EU officials have signaled green signal to a trade pact with the US to avert a damaging trade war. Market experts believe the US-Japan deal confirmed on Tuesday increased fears among EU officials that they...
Oil prices rose on Thursday, buoyed by optimism over U.S. trade negotiations that would ease pressure on the global economy and a sharper-than-expected decline in U.S. crude inventories. Brent crude futures had gained 52 cents, or 0.76%, to $69.03 a barrel by 1040 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed 60 cents, or 0.9% to $65.85 per barrel. "The U.S. crude inventory draw and the trade efforts are adding some support to prices," said Janiv Shah, an analyst at Rystad. Two European diplomats said on Wednesday that the EU and the United States were moving towards a trade...
The Pound Sterling (GBP) declines against its major peers on Thursday as the preliminary United Kingdom (UK) S&P Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) report for July has shown that the overall business activity grew at a slower-than-projected pace. The Composite PMI come in at 51.0, lower than estimates of 51.9 and 52.0 in June, suggesting that the overall business activity continued to expand, but at a moderate pace. UK Composite PMI growth slowed down as the service sector activity surprisingly rose at a moderate pace. The Services PMI dropped to 51.2, while it was expected to come in...