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) is trading on a modest positive note on Friday after a sharp sell-off earlier this week. However, upside attempts remain limited as investors gear up for the release of the US Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index. On Thursday, an upward revision to the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the third quarter, and lower-than-expected Jobless Claims have supported the Federal Reserve's (Fed) hawkish stance for 2025. This has kept the US Dollar index stuck near a two-year high ahead of the release of the Fed's favorite inflation gauge. Investors are waiting to see...
Silver (XAG/USD) prices traded in a tight range around $29.00 in the European trading session on Friday. The white metal consolidated as investors await the US (US) core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index data for November, due at 13:30 GMT. Economists expect the US annual core PCE inflation data to rise to 2.9% from 2.8% in October. On a monthly basis, the underlying inflation data is expected to grow steadily at 0.2%. Signs of a mild slowdown in price pressures are unlikely to affect market expectations that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will halt its policy easing at its...
The U.S. dollar eased slightly on Friday, taking a breather after a strong rally this week as traders awaited the release of the Fed's preferred inflation gauge. At 4:40 AM ET (09:40 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, was trading 0.2% lower at 107.960, after rising to a two-year high earlier this week. Dollar Set for Weekly Gain The dollar index dipped slightly on Friday, but was still headed for a weekly gain of around 1%, supported by a relatively hawkish outlook for U.S. interest rates after the Federal Reserve's final policy...
Oil prices fell on Friday on concerns about demand growth in 2025, especially in the world's biggest crude importer, China, leaving the global oil benchmark on track to end the week down nearly 3%. Brent crude futures were down 33 cents, or 0.45%, at $72.55 a barrel by 0730 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 32 cents, or 0.46%, at $69.06 a barrel. China's state-owned refiner Sinopec (OTC:SHIIY) said in its annual energy outlook released on Thursday that China's crude imports could peak as early as 2025 and the country's oil consumption would peak in 2027 as demand...
Gold prices steadied near a one-month low in Asian trade on Friday and were headed for weekly losses after the U.S. Federal Reserve's forecast of fewer than expected interest rate cuts in 2025 put investors on edge. The Fed lowered interest rates by 25 basis points as expected, but signaled it will adopt a slower rate cut path, with just two more cuts in 2025. Markets were expecting four cuts before the decision. Spot gold was slightly higher at $2,596.82 per ounce, while gold futures expiring in February ticked up 0.1% to $2,610.30 an ounce by 22:35 ET (03:35 GMT). Spot prices were down...