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 Japanese yen rose toward 148 per dollar on Monday, recovering some of last week's losses after the ruling coalition lost its majority in the weekend's upper house election, bringing a new wave of political uncertainty. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba now faces the challenge of working with the opposition, marking the first time since 1955 that the governing party has failed to hold a majority in at least one chamber of the legislature. The opposition is expected to advocate for increased government spending and tax cuts, moves that could pressure the yen and push Japanese government bond...
The Gold price ( XAU/USD) trades with mild gains near $3,350 during the early Asian session on Monday. Uncertainty around trade talks is likely to support Gold's safe-haven demand as a tariff deadline with the US looms. Traders will take more cues from the speech from Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell later on Tuesday. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday that August 1 is the deadline for countries to begin paying tariffs to the US. President Donald Trump's tariff deadline has shifted since he announced his steep levies on trading partners on April 2, but White House...
Oil was little changed after its first weekly drop this month, with the focus on trade deal progress and the European Union's efforts to curb Russian energy exports. Brent crude held near $69 a barrel after falling 1.5% last week, while West Texas Intermediate was above $67. EU envoys are set to meet as early as this week to formulate a plan for measures to respond to a possible no-deal scenario with US President Donald Trump, whose tariff negotiating position is seen to have stiffened ahead of an Aug. 1 deadline. Late last week, the 27-nation bloc agreed to a lower...
The EUYR/USD finished Friday's session with gains of over 0.26% amid a weaker US Dollar, following dovish comments by Fed Governor Christopher Waller, which weighed on US Treasury yields. Still, an improvement in Consumer Sentiment capped the Euro's gains, with the pair trading at 1.1626 at the time of writing. Wall Street ended the session on a higher note, as investors cheered comments by Waller, who favors a rate cut in July. Despite this, recent comments by Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee showed that he has moderated his dovish stance, stating that he's wary due to the latest CPI...
The U.S. dollar slipped against the euro on Friday but held on to weekly gains, as investors weighed expected Federal Reserve policy amid signs that tariffs may be starting to increase some inflation pressures and as U.S. President Donald Trump continued to criticise Chair Jerome Powell. Data on Tuesday showed that consumer prices rose in June, though the increase was seen as moderate. Wednesday's producer price inflation report showed that prices were steady last month. Powell has said he expects inflation to rise this summer as a result of Trump's tariff policies. His comments have...