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 Japanese Yen (JPY) moved lower after a cautious statement from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and helped the USD/JPY pair bounce from sub-151.00 levels, the lowest level since December 10, touched during the Asian session on Friday (February 7). However, a meaningful JPY depreciation seems elusive given the growing acceptance that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will continue to tighten its policy. In fact, comments from a senior BOJ official on Thursday suggested that the Japanese central bank is sticking to its stance of continuing to raise borrowing costs. This would result in a...
Gold rose near $2,870 an ounce on Friday, hitting a record high and heading for a sixth straight weekly gain. The precious metal has repeatedly set new records this week, boosted by accelerating central bank buying and rising safe-haven demand amid global trade tensions and economic uncertainty. President Trump followed through on plans to impose a 10% levy on all Chinese imports, prompting Beijing to announce retaliatory tariffs on U.S. energy goods, set to take effect next week. Adding to the uncertainty, Trump also suggested the U.S. could take over the Gaza Strip for...
Gold edges higher in early Asian trade. Tariff fears continue to push gold to all-time highs, with an estimated 7% boost to prices coming from trade tensions, the Goldman Sachs commodities research team writes in a note. There could be modest downside to prices if tariff risks fade and investor positioning normalizes, they say. But sustained central bank buying and falling Fed funds rates will continue to support prices, which could hit $3,000/oz by 2Q 2026, they add. Spot gold is 0.1% higher at $2,859.45/oz. Source : Dow Jones Newswires
Oil headed for a third weekly decline as worries that President Donald Trump's tariffs on China will sap demand outweighed the new US administration's first round of sanctions against Iran. West Texas Intermediate was steady near $71 a barrel, and is down almost 3% this week, while Brent crude closed above $74. Trump has slapped levies on all imports from China, with the world's biggest oil importer countering with its own more restrained measures, which will come into force on Monday. The trade war — and the potential for it to spread — has stoked concerns that it will...
The next SNB policy meeting is not scheduled until March 20, Rabobank's FX analyst Jane Foley notes."A lot can happen in six weeks, but at this point it seems fairly likely that the central bank will announce another cut in rates. This would follow the jumbo 50 bps move at the last meeting in December. The SNB only meets once a quarter. This alone increases the chances of a move next month."Arguably, it also raises the chances that policymakers could decide on another jumbo move since the next policy meeting will not be until June. That said, the SNB's policy rate is already at 0.50%. Given...