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 U.S. dollar edged higher Wednesday, but was struggling to regain lost ground as the fragile truce between Israel and Iran saw investors take on risk to the detriment of this safe haven. At 04:20 ET (08:20 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, rose 0.2% to 97.665, but remained near multu-week lows. Dollar awaits Powell, part II The greenback initially benefited from increased safe haven demand following weekend U.S. strikes against Iran, but this trend was largely reversed by U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of the...
Oil prices climbed on Wednesday as investors assessed the stability of a ceasefire between Iran and Israel, while support also came from market expectations that interest rate cuts could happen soon in the United States, the world's largest economy. Brent crude futures rose $1.2, or 1.8%, to $68.34 a barrel at 0701 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained $1.18 cents, or 1.8%, to $65.55. Brent settled on Tuesday at its lowest since June 10 and WTI since June 5, both before Israel launched a surprise attack on key Iranian military and nuclear facilities on June 13. Prices...
The EUR/USD is trading practically flat on Wednesday, just below a multi-year high near 1.1640, last seen in November 2021, consolidating gains after a nearly 1.40% rally in the previous two days. A moderate appetite for risk continues to drive markets, despite the fragility of the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, and is keeping the safe-haven US Dollar (USD) on its back foot. Oil prices have ticked up from Tuesday's lows butt remain well below the highs seen last week. Iran's Oil and Natural Gas facilities seem to have been little affected by the bombings, and Oil traffic through the...
Gold prices edged higher on Wednesday, supported by a pullback in the U.S. dollar and Treasury yields, as markets monitored the fragile truce between Israel and Iran. Spot gold was up 0.2% at $3,330.99 per ounce, as of 0658 GMT, after hitting on Tuesday its lowest level in more than two weeks. U.S. gold futures rose 0.3% to $3,345.00. The dollar index (.DXY), opens new tab hovered near a one-week low, making greenback-priced bullion more attractive for other currency holders. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yields remained near a more than one-month low. "The technical selling of the...
The US dollar struggled to regain lost ground on Wednesday as investors decided to take on more risk after a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran. Markets cheered and global stock indexes hit record highs overnight as a shaky truce brokered by US President Donald Trump held sway between Iran and Israel. Both countries signaled that their air war was over, at least for now, after Trump publicly rebuked them for violating the truce he declared. Investors sold the US dollar heavily after the news, having flowed into the safe-haven currency during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran...