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...
EUR/USD was almost unchanged on Tuesday during the North American session after hitting a multi-year high of 1.1830, before dropping below the 1.1800 level. The approval of US President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" and higher US Treasury yields limited the rise in the shared currency, which remained trading around 1.1780, flat. Recently, the US Senate passed Trump's tax bill by a 51-50 vote, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote. Now the $3.3 trillion tax and spending bill heads to the US House of Representatives, which will approve the fiscal package, which...
Oil prices edged higher on Tuesday as investors weighed positive demand indicators while also remaining cautious ahead of an OPEC+ meeting to decide the group's output policy in August. Brent crude settled up 37 cents, or 0.6%, at $67.11 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled up 34 cents, or about 0.5%, at $65.45 a barrel. The gains were likely driven by supportive data from a private sector survey in China, which showed factory activity picked up again in June, said Randall Rothenberg, risk intelligence expert at U.S. oil brokerage Liquidity Energy. Expectations that...
Gold prices rose more than 1% on Tuesday as investors sought safe-haven assets after US President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" passed the Senate, ahead of a July 9 trade tariff deadline. Spot gold rose 1.1% to $3,338.24 an ounce, as of 2:25 p.m. EDT (1825 GMT), its highest since June 24. US gold futures settled 1.3% higher at $3,349.8. The Republican-controlled US Senate voted on Tuesday to pass a sweeping tax-cut and spending bill demanded by Trump, which would slash some social service programs. "The budget bill that passed is encouraging as it looks to contribute to a $3...
Oil prices edged higher on Tuesday as investors weighed positive demand indicators while also remaining cautious ahead of an OPEC+ meeting to decide the group's output policy in August. Brent crude rose 18 cents, or 0.3%, to $66.92 a barrel by 11:36 a.m. ET (1536 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 27 cents, or about 0.4%, to $65.38 a barrel. The gains were likely driven by supportive data from a private sector survey in China, which showed factory activity picked up again in June, said Randall Rothenberg, risk intelligence strategist at U.S. oil broker Liquidity...
Gold rose for a second day as investors weighed President Donald Trump's tax bill, which is expected to widen the US deficit. Bullion rose as much as 1.7%, paring losses from the past two weeks, while US stocks weakened and the dollar hovered near a three-year low. The US Senate passed a bill that combines $4.5 trillion in tax cuts with $1.2 trillion in spending cuts. The US government's push for a spending bill means that "fiscal risks are likely to come to the fore," analysts at Commerzbank AG said in a note, potentially benefiting bullion's safe-haven appeal. Gold's gains eased...