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 Pound Sterling (GBP) trades higher against its major peers, except the Euro (EUR), at the start of the week. The British currency moves higher ahead of the European Union (EU)-United Kingdom (UK) trade summit in London on Monday. Investors will pay close attention to a potential trade deal as it will strengthen economic ties between the economies since the announcement of Brexit. According to comments from the Head of Trade Policy at the British Chamber of Commerce, William Bain, in a Jefferies-hosted session over the weekend, the potential deal between the UK and the EU would benefit...
Oil slipped on Monday, weighed down by Moody's downgrade of the U.S. sovereign credit rating and official data that showed slowing growth in China's industrial output and retail sales. Both developments raised concerns over the outlook for the world's two biggest economies and oil consumers a week after Beijing and Washington's agreement to roll back most tariffs on each other's goods pushed oil prices higher. "The timing is damaging," John Evans of oil broker PVM said of the U.S. rating cut. "The change may see limited impact and its effect might be a creep of monetary disease rather than...
Gold prices climbed on Monday as a softer dollar and renewed trade concerns, following U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's reaffirmation of President Donald Trump's tariff threats, fuelled safe-haven demand. Spot gold was up 0.8% at $3,228.47 an ounce, as of 0632 GMT. U.S. gold futures gained 1.4% to $3,232.10. Gold shed more than 2% on Friday and posted its worst week since last November, as increased risk appetite from the U.S.-China trade agreement weighed. The dollar (.DXY), opens new tab slipped 0.5% on Monday, making greenback-priced gold cheaper for overseas currency...
The US dollar index fell slightly to around 100.7 on Monday, following a surprise downgrade of the US government's credit rating. Moody's Ratings announced late Friday that it had stripped the US of its top credit rating, lowering it to Aa1, due to concerns about the nation's growing $36 trillion debt, in a move that could complicate President Trump's efforts to cut taxes. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed the cut's significance on Sunday, saying the administration would spur economic growth that would outpace the national debt. He also warned trade partners that they would face the...
The GBP/USD pair recovered from prior session losses, trading near the 1.3300 level during Asian session on Monday. The rebound is largely driven by renewed pressure on the US Dollar (USD) after Moody's Investors Service downgraded the US credit rating by one notch, from Aaa to Aa1. The agency cited escalating debt levels and a growing burden from interest payments as primary concerns. This move aligns with previous downgrades by Fitch Ratings in 2023 and Standard & Poor's in 2011. Moody's now forecasts US federal debt to rise to approximately 134% of GDP by 2035, up from 98% in 2023....