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...
Gold prices were flat in Asian trade on Wednesday as investors refrained from placing big bets ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy decision, while also monitoring developments surrounding the Israel-Iran conflict. Spot gold was flat at $3,388.04 an ounce, as of 0341 GMT. U.S. gold futures were largely unchanged at $3,406.50. "Gold prices fluctuated as investors tracked escalating risks in the Middle East. Lackluster U.S. reports on retail sales, housing and industrial production strengthened the case for the Fed to cut interest rates later this year," analysts at ANZ said in a...
Silver (XAG/USD) is seen consolidating the previous day's strong gains to the highest level since February 2012 and oscillated in a narrow range during the Asian session on Wednesday (6/18). The white metal is currently trading just above the $37.00 round-figure mark and seems poised to extend its recent uptrend from April monthly swing lows. From a technical perspective, the overnight breakout through a short-term descending trend-channel, which constitutes the formation of a bullish flag pattern, and the subsequent up-move validates the constructive outlook. However, a slightly overbought...
The US Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the US Dollar (USD) against a basket of six major currencies, retraced its recent gains and traded around 98.70 during Asian hours on Wednesday (6/18). Markets expect the US Federal Reserve (Fed) to keep interest rates unchanged at its June meeting scheduled for Wednesday. Traders now see a near 80% chance of a Fed rate cut in September, followed by another cut in October, according to Reuters. Traders are likely to closely monitor the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) statement on monetary policy, looking for direction going forward amid...
The Japanese Yen (JPY) remained weaker against its US counterpart for the fourth straight day and retested its monthly low during the Asian session on Wednesday (6/18). The Bank of Japan (BOJ) signaled a cautious approach to winding down its decade-long monetary stimulus amid uncertain economic growth. This forced investors to push back their expectations about the likely timing of the next BOJ rate hike to Q1 2026, which in turn, was seen weakening the JPY. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba failed to reach a tariff breakthrough at the G7...
Oil prices rose after surging to their highest in nearly five months on Tuesday, as President Donald Trump stoked speculation that the U.S. might join an attack on Iran, raising concerns about a disruption to Middle East supplies. West Texas Intermediate crude rose as much as 1.1% to trade above $75 a barrel earlier. Brent crude settled near $76 in the previous session. Trump met with his national security team on Tuesday, demanding Iran's "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER" and warning of a possible attack on the OPEC producer leader ahead of the meeting in a social media post. So far, Iran's crude...