The Hang Seng Index opened 64 points higher, or 0.25 per cent, at 25,241 points yesterday. Meanwhile, the China Enterprises Index rose 20 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 9,054 points, and the Technology Index gained 13 points, or 0.23 per cent, to close at 5,592 points. Technology stocks showed mixed results: Tencent rose 0.1 per cent, Alibaba slipped 0.1 per cent, and Meituan edged up by 0.1 per cent. Xiaomi Group climbed 0.8 per cent ahead of its earnings report, JD.com rose 0.2 per cent, while Kuaishou remained unchanged. Financial stocks remained steady, with HSBC Holdings climbing 0.5...
Oil prices retreated on Thursday as U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up a trade war with China, even as he announced a 90-day pause on tariffs aimed at other countries. Brent futures fell 77 cents, or 1.18%, to $64.71 a barrel by 0320 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 65 cents, or 1.04%, to $61.70. Following the tariff pause for most countries, the benchmark crude contracts had settled 4% higher on Wednesday after dropping as much as 7% during the session. Trump, however, raised the tariff rate for China to 125% effective immediately, from the previously...
The GBP/USD pair recovers its daily losses and continues its winning streak for the third successive session, hovering around 1.2850 during Asian trading hours on Thursday. The British Pound (GBP) came under pressure following the release of weaker-than-expected data from the RICS Housing Price Balance, which showed just a 2% increase in March. This marked a significant slowdown from the 20% and 11% gains recorded in January and February, respectively, and fell far short of the anticipated 8% rise highlighting a stagnation in price growth over recent months. Further weighing on the British...
The Japanese Yen (JPY) sticks to intraday gains led by the stronger-than-expected release of the Producer Price Index (PPI), which keeps the door open for further rate hikes by the Bank of Japan (BoJ). Furthermore, the optimism that Japan might strike a trade deal with the US turns out to be another factor underpinning the JPY. The US Dollar (USD), on the other hand, fails to capitalize on the overnight modest recovery against its Japanese counterpart and drags the USD/JPY pair drags the USD/JPY pair back below the 147.00 mark during the Asian session on Thursday. Meanwhile, hawkish BoJ...
Australian Dollar (AUD) regained its ground against the US Dollar (USD) on Thursday following the news that Australia is gearing up for renewed trade negotiations with the European Union (EU). The EU decided to revisit the stalled talks. During a one-hour video meeting on Wednesday evening, EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic suggested setting a new timeline to restart discussions with his Australian counterpart, Don Farrell. The previous round of extensive negotiations broke down two years ago due to disagreements over agricultural access to the EU's 450 million consumers. The AUD/USD...
The Gold price (XAU/USD) edges higher to around $3,080 during the early Asian session on Wednesday. The safe-haven demand amid escalating trade tensions between the United States and China provides some support to the precious metal. US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he authorized a 90-day pause on new tariffs for most US trade partners to 10% to allow trade negotiations with those countries. However, Trump raised the tariffs imposed on imports from China to 125% "effective immediately" due to the "lack of respect that China has shown to the World's Markets." The economic...