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 is trading in a tight range near the psychological 1.0500 mark during the European session on Wednesday. The major currency pair is consolidating as investors await the outcome of the Federal Reserve's (Fed) final policy meeting of the year, which will conclude at 19:00 GMT. The Fed will also release a revised Summary of Economic Projections (SEP), also known as the dot plot, which shows the latest economic projections and where policymakers see the Federal Funds Rate heading in the medium to long term. Analysts at Bank of America (BofA) expect the Fed to cut interest rates by 25...
Silver (XAG/USD) struggled to capitalize on the previous day's modest rebound from the vicinity of monthly lows, around the psychological $30.00 mark and attracted some sellers on Wednesday. The white metal remained pressured through the first half of the European session and is currently trading just below mid-$30.00s, down nearly 0.30% for the day. From a technical perspective, the recent failure near the $32.35 horizontal resistance and a subsequent fall back below the 100-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) favors bearish traders. Moreover, oscillators on the daily chart are holding in...
Gold (XAU/USD) prices remained depressed through the first half of the European session on Wednesday, albeit lacked any follow-through selling and so far, has held above the one-week low touched the previous day. A less dovish Federal Reserve (Fed) outlook remained supportive of the US Treasury bond yields and acted as a headwind for the non-yielding yellow metal. However, the US Dollar (USD) investors seemed reluctant to place any aggressive bets and preferred to wait for the key FOMC decision. Investors will be closely watching the latest economic projections, including the so-called dot...
The Australian Dollar (AUD) extended its decline for the second straight session against the US Dollar (USD) on Wednesday (18/12). Traders are bracing for a potential 25 basis point interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) later in the North American session. The AUD is also facing headwinds as traders increase their bets that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will cut rates sooner and more significantly than previously expected. However, the upcoming decision will be data-driven, with evolving risk assessments guiding the RBA's approach. The US Dollar (USD) remains solid amid...
The Japanese Yen (JPY) struggled to build on the previous day's modest recovery against its US counterpart and attracted fresh sellers during the Asian session on Wednesday. Data released today showed that Japan's Trade Balance unexpectedly improved in November on strong export growth, although a decline in imports indicated weak local demand. This, coupled with an uncertain economic outlook amid concerns about US President-elect Donald Trump's tariff plans, reaffirmed expectations that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will keep interest rates steady later this week and weakened the JPY. Meanwhile,...