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...
EUR/USD corrected near 1.0360 in the late European session on Thursday. The major currency pair declined as the US dollar (USD) strengthened after a sharp decline in the last three trading days. The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the greenback against six major currencies, recovered near 108.00 from a weekly low of 107.30. The US dollar recovery appears to be a result of investors' caution ahead of the January Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) data, due for release on Friday. The upbeat ADP Employment Change data for January has given a positive impression to the official employment data. ADP...
Bank of Japan (BOJ) board member Naoki Tamura's remarks on Thursday (Feb. 6) have boosted the yen, as he suggested interest rates should reach at least 1% in the second half of the fiscal year starting in April 2025. Tamura, known for his hawkish stance, indicated that the BOJ should act in response to rising inflationary pressures from rising raw material and labor costs. Tamura's remarks have fueled market expectations of a near-term rate hike, with the yen strengthening against the dollar, which fell to a two-month low of 151.81 yen. Furthermore, the yield on the two-year Japanese...
The dollar edged up on Thursday, but stayed close to recent lows, as traders weighed receding trade war risks and looked ahead to Friday's key U.S. data, while sterling dipped ahead of the Bank of England's policy decision. The yen touched an eight-week top versus the U.S. dollar after a Bank of Japan policy board member advocated continued interest rate hikes, but pared the gains and was broadly flat in European trade. The dollar rose against a basket of peers to 108, but still hovered near the lowest level since the start of last week, with investors beginning to entertain prospects that...
Oil prices edged up on Thursday after Saudi Arabia's state oil company raised its March crude prices sharply, but the gains barely dented the previous day's slide in benchmark Brent crude. Brent crude futures rose 28 cents, or 0.4%, to $74.89 a barrel by 0952 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 35 cents, or 0.5%, at $71.38. Oil prices had plunged by more than 2% on Wednesday as a large build in U.S. crude and gasoline stockpiles signalled weaker demand while investors also weighed up the implications of a new round of U.S.-China trade tariffs, including duties on energy...
Silver prices (XAG/USD) fell on Thursday, according to FXStreet data. Silver trades at $32.08 per troy ounce, down 0.53% from the $32.25 it cost on Wednesday. Silver prices have increased by 11.03% since the beginning of the year. The Gold/Silver ratio, which shows the number of ounces of Silver needed to equal the value of one ounce of Gold, stood at 89.05 on Thursday, up from 88.76 on Wednesday. Sumber : Fxstreet