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...
Oil rose after an industry report signaled a chunky decline in US crude stockpiles, while the market weighed the prospect of a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire in the Black Sea. West Texas Intermediate futures climbed close to $70 a barrel, a level not seen since the start of the month. US inventories fell by 4.6 million barrels last week, according to the American Petroleum Institute. That would be the biggest draw since November if confirmed by official data on Wednesday. The US, meanwhile, said Russia and Ukraine had agreed to a truce "to ensure safe navigation" in...
Gold's price (XAU/USD) is edging higher to around $3,027 at the time of writing on Wednesday and is turning this week's performance into green numbers. The precious metal is being bought together with other precious metals as Copper pops to a new all-time high. Copper metal is in the eye of attention after United States (US) President Donald Trump mentioned on Tuesday that Copper tariffs will be implemented in the coming weeks, which is far sooner than markets were anticipating. Meanwhile, there is also a headline risk on Ukraine, where a Black Sea ceasefire deal is on the table. Ukraine's...
The dollar was little changed on Wednesday, with weak US confidence data and concerns about the impact of broad tariffs on US growth hampering a recent recovery. The British market was in focus as Finance Minister Rachel Reeves is due to announce spending cuts later in the day, in a bid to show investors she can be trusted to fix public finances as growth falters. After briefly dropping below 150 yen, the dollar hovered at 150.20 yen, but traders were less convinced, as a chaotic week of tariffs loomed. The euro, which spent the week retreating from a five-month high, fell to $1.0776, a...
The Pound Sterling (GBP) faces selling pressure against its major peers on Wednesday. The British currency slides after the release of the United Kingdom (UK) Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for February, which showed that inflation cooled down at a faster-than-expected pace. Headline CPI increased 2.8% year-over-year (YoY) compared to estimates of 2.9% and the 3.0% increase seen in January. In the same period, the core CPI – which excludes volatile items – rose by 3.5%, against expectations of 3.6% and the former release of 3.7%. Month-on-month headline CPI grew 0.4% after deflating by...
Oil prices edged higher on Wednesday on supply concerns with the U.S. stepping up efforts to limit Venezuelan and Iranian oil exports, while a bigger-than-expected drop in U.S. crude inventories also lent support. Brent crude futures gained 15 cents, or 0.21%, to $73.22 a barrel by 0723 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 16 cents, or 0.23%, to $69.16 a barrel. Both contracts hit their highest in three weeks in the previous session. "Crude oil prices maintain their bullish bias after Trump's sanctions on Venezuelan oil, raising supply-side concerns," Priyanka...