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...
This weekend the US successfully used the threat of tariffs on Colombia to secure its policy objective of deporting illegal immigrants. The use of tariffs as a policy lever now appears well understood by the market and may be worth it to reduce marginal volatility, notes ING FX analyst Chris Turner. "FX markets are still operating on the potential 1 February deadline for tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China – and that should prevent the dollar from correcting too much this week. Instead, focus may shift back to the macro side given a slew of central bank rate meetings, Q4 GDP data and some...
Gold (XAU/USD) recovered most of its intraday losses and traded with a mild negative bias, around the $2,760 area during the first half of the European session on Monday (1/27). US President Donald Trump's decision to impose tariffs on all imports from Colombia revived trade war fears and triggered a fresh wave of global risk-off trade. Additionally, falling US Treasury bond yields, amid bets that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will cut interest rates twice this year, provided additional support to the non-yielding yellow metal. That said, a decent recovery in the US Dollar (USD) from over...
EUR/USD corrected near 1.0450 in the European session on Monday (1/27) after hitting a six-week high near 1.0520 on Friday. The major currency pair faced pressure as the US Dollar (USD) started the week on a positive note amid risk-averse market sentiment. The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the Greenback against a basket of six major currencies, attempted to recover from last week's losses and surged near 107.75. The US Dollar's safe-haven appeal has been boosted as US President Donald Trump's tariff concerns have returned. Trump imposed a 25% tariff on South American trading partner...
The GBP/USD pair remains under selling pressure near 1.2450 during the early European session on Monday (1/27). Renewed US Dollar (USD) demand amid safe-haven flows dragged the major lower. According to the 4-hour chart, the bullish outlook for GBP/USD is in place as the major is above the key 100-period Exponential Moving Average (EMA). The upside momentum is reinforced by the Relative Strength Index (RSI), which is above the midline around 64.70, suggesting that further upside appears favorable. On the upside, immediate resistance is seen in the 1.2500-1.2510 region, which represents the...
The USD/CHF pair traded in the positive territory near 0.9065 during the early European session. The US dollar (USD) moved higher as traders assessed the impact of US President Donald Trump's tariff plans earlier in the week. On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve's (Fed) interest rate decision will be in focus. US President Donald Trump on Sunday imposed broad retaliatory measures against Colombia, including tariffs and sanctions, after the South American country refused to allow two military planes carrying deported migrants to land. However, the White House said on Monday that Colombia has...