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 British pound edged higher toward $1.37, partially recovering from Wednesday's decline, as markets reacted positively to Prime Minister Keir Starmer's strong backing of Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Starmer defended Reeves amid speculation about her future, attributing her emotional moment to a "personal matter" and affirming she would remain chancellor "for a very long time to come." His remarks helped ease investor concerns that a potential replacement might be less committed to fiscal discipline and more inclined toward increased borrowing. Meanwhile, traders also digested comments from...
Silver price revisits two-week high near $36.80 during European trading hours on Thursday. The white metal trades firmly ahead of the United States (US) Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) data for June, which will be published at 12:30 GMT. The US official employment data will significantly influence market expectations for the Federal Reserve's (Fed) monetary policy outlook as officials have lately warned of downside labor market risks. Economists expect US employers to have added 110K fresh workers, fewer than 139K in May. The Unemployment Rate is estimated to have accelerated to 4.3% from the prior...
Gold prices were little changed on Thursday as investors held back from making significant bets, awaiting U.S. payroll data later in the day for insight into the Federal Reserve's policy direction. Spot gold held steady at $3,357.96 per ounce as of 0601 GMT, while U.S. gold futures edged up 0.2% to $3,369.10. Gold appears to be consolidating at present within the $3,320 to $3,360 range, with the market adopting a wait-and-see approach rather than taking significant positions ahead of U.S. non-farm payroll and ISM Services PMI data, OANDA senior market analyst Kelvin Wong said. Data...
The trading action in financial markets turns subdued early Thursday as investors gear up for the key June employment report from the US, which will feature Unemployment Rate, Nonfarm Payrolls and wage inflation figures. The US economic calendar will also offer weekly Jobless Claims data and the Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) report for June. After starting the day on a bullish note on Wednesday, the US Dollar (USD) lost its recovery momentum in the American session to end the day with small gains. The data published by Automatic Data...
The US Dollar Index (DXY), an index of the value of the US Dollar (USD) measured against a basket of six world currencies, remains on the defensive near 96.70 during the early Asian session on Thursday. All eyes will be on the release of highly-anticipated US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) data for June, which is due later on Thursday. The Greenback edges lower after the ADP National Employment Report showed US private payrolls fell for the first time in more than two years in June. US private-sector payrolls decreased 33,000 in June after a downwardly revised 29,000 gain in May. This figure came...