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 (XAU/USD) traded slightly higher on Monday (November 24th) as investors considered developments in the Federal Reserve's monetary policy outlook alongside improving sentiment on risk assets. At the time of writing, XAU/USD was trading around $4,087, up nearly 0.50% after bouncing off an intraday low near $4,040. Market sentiment remains anchored by renewed expectations for a December interest rate cut after New York Fed President John Williams said on Friday that he still sees room for near-term easing. His remarks helped revive rate cut expectations after a period of waning...
Oil prices fluctuated between gains and losses as traders weighed the prospects for a Ukraine-Russia peace deal that could ease political risks in an already oversupplied market. West Texas Intermediate crude traded near $58, little changed after its biggest weekly loss since early October. Ukraine and its European allies signaled that there were still key points of contention in U.S.-brokered peace talks to end the Russian invasion, although senior officials praised progress in securing more favorable terms for Kyiv. "Something good may be happening," President Donald Trump wrote in a...
The crude market has suffered a volatile year, and Bank of America Global Research expects the price of oil to remain pressured in 2026. The benchmark Brent contract has fallen almost 20% so far in 2025, averaging $69 a barrel, as the U.S. trade war and OPEC+ price war collided. "The high end of the range was $82/bbl first on the back of U.S. sanctions on Russia in January and then as the U.S. struck Iran in June. The low end of the range was $60/bbl in May right before US and China agreed to de-escalate trade measures," said analysts at Bank of America, in a note dated Nov. 23. Looking...
Gold (XAU/USD) recovers slightly from the daily low touched during the early part of the European session and trades with a mild negative bias, just above the $4,060 level, down less than 0.15% for the day. Mixed signals from US Federal Reserve (Fed) officials keep the door open for another interest rate cut in December and prompt some US Dollar (USD) profit-taking after the recent rise to its highest level since late May. This turns out to be a key factor lending some support to the non-yielding yellow metal. Apart from this, geopolitical risks stemming from the intensifying...
Silver stabilized around $50 per ounce on Monday, halting a recent slide as dovish comments from a senior US Federal Reserve official boosted expectations for a rate cut next month. New York Fed President John Williams said Friday that a near term rate reduction remains possible, with labor market weakness posing a greater risk than elevated inflation. Markets now price in roughly a 69% chance of a 25 basis point rate cut in December, up from 44% a week ago. Policymakers, however, remain divided, with Boston Fed President Susan Collins noting she has not yet decided on a policy...