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 US Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the value of the US Dollar against a basket of currencies, is holding near the 104.30 zone during Wednesday's session. A better than expected print in February's Durable Goods Orders, coupled with hawkish rhetoric from Fed officials, is helping the Greenback edge higher. However, momentum indicators remain conflicted, hinting at a still fragile upside. Daily digest market movers: US Dollar steadies as data, Fed comments offset risk sentiment shiftThe Greenback benefits from stronger than forecast US Durable Goods Orders for February, which also saw...
The AUD/USD pair exhibits indecisiveness around 0.6300 during North American trading hours on Wednesday. The Aussie pair struggles for direction after the release of the Australian Monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for February, which showed that inflation has cooled down. The inflation data rose at a slower pace of 2.4% compared to estimates and January's reading of 2.5%. Technically, soft inflation data should have boosted market expectations that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) could cut interest rates again in the April meeting. However, traders would also discount the...
The Pound Sterling (GBP) depreciates against the US Dollar (USD) on Wednesday as United Kingdom (UK) inflation came in softer than expected, while investors scrutinized the Spring Budget. Across the pond, mixed US economic data lent a lifeline to the Greenback, which pared losses versus the British pound. GBP/USD is trading at 1.2895, down 0.36%. Pound drops as inflation cools and Reeves' budget tightens spendingThe UK's inflation rate dipped below estimates, with headline figures rising 2.8% year-over-year (YoY) in February, compared to 3% in January. The Core CPI for the same period...
China Lifecos are already on the bid in Gold. The Shanghai Gold exchange admitted four Chinese Life Insurance companies as members of the exchange, enabling them to purchase Gold as part of a pilot program that could grow the network of Gold buyers and create a massive new buying impulse, TDS' Senior Commodity Strategist Daniel Ghali notes. Gold prices continue to rally north of $3000"These four lifecos alone have nearly 13Trillion yuan in total assets and represent nearly 2/3 of the total potential buying impulse from this pilot program. We estimate that a 1% allocation into Gold amounts...
The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the performance of the US Dollar (USD) against six major currencies, is currently bouncing off the 104.00 mark and consolidates on Wednesday ahead of the US Durable Goods Orders data for February. On one hand, the DXY sees some selling pressure from a Black Sea ceasefire deal brokered by the United States (US), where Ukraine is willing to commit and Russia backtracks and demands a lift in all sanctions on banks and agricultural companies. On the other hand, the buying pressure comes from comments from US President Donald Trump, who said Copper...