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...
Britain's fiscal challenges are mounting, with the latest data revealing a wider-than-expected budget deficit and deteriorating growth indicators. As government spending faces further cuts and the services sector slips into contraction, pressure is building on the Bank of England to loosen policy—potentially weighing further on the pound, Commerzbank's FX analyst Michael Pfister notes. UK budget deficit widens amid weak growth"Yesterday's figures showed once again why the UK is in a difficult situation at the moment. It started with the net borrowing figures for March, which were again...
Silver fell nearly 1% to around $33.3 per ounce on Thursday in a likely technical correction after surging more than 3% in the previous session to a three-week high. The white metal continued to diverge from gold, reflecting its hybrid nature as both a precious and industrial metal—making it more sensitive to shifts in macroeconomic sentiment and trade developments. Recent market moves were shaped by evolving U.S.-China trade signals. While the Trump administration is reportedly considering tariff cuts pending talks with Beijing, China has conditioned its participation on a pause in U.S....
Oil prices recovered some losses on Thursday after falling nearly 2% in the previous session, with investors weighing a potential OPEC+ output increase against conflicting tariff signals from the White House and ongoing U.S.-Iran nuclear talks. Brent crude futures were up 53 cents, or 0.8%, to $66.65 a barrel at 0706 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 55 cents, or 0.88%, to $62.82 a barrel. Prices had settled down 2% in the previous trading session after Reuters reported that several OPEC+ members would suggest the group accelerate oil output increases for a second month...
The U.S. dollar eased on Thursday, surrendering some of the previous day's big gains after U.S. President Donald Trumpbacked down from threats to fire the head of the Federal Reserve and appeared to soften his stance on China. It caught an extra boost when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. did not have a specific currency target in mind, ahead of talks with his Japanese counterpart. Bessent has also said the current de facto embargo on U.S.-China trade was unsustainable, while cautioning that the U.S. would not move first in lowering its levies of more than 100% on Chinese...
Gold price (XAU/USD) retreats around $50 from the daily swing high and trades just below the $3,320 level heading into the European session, still up for the first time in three days. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tempered expectations for a quick resolution to the US-China trade standoff, which, in turn, helps revive demand for the safe-haven bullion. Apart from this, the growing acceptance that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will resume its rate-cutting cycle soon and the emergence of some US Dollar (USD) selling turns out to be other factors lending support to the non-yielding Gold...