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 US Dollar (USD) suffered a setback on Tuesday heading into the US trading session with the US Retail Sales figures taking the spotlight. Coming in at 0.7%, beating the 0.5% estimate for November, the reading was less impressive than the US Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) on Monday. Even a revision to the previous reading to 0.5%, from 0.4% failed to cheer traders and add to their US Dollar positions. Instead, the US Dollar began to pare back some of its gains on the day. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is set to cut its policy interest rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday –...
EUR/USD dipped below the psychological resistance of 1.0500 on Tuesday. The major currency pair remained fragile as the US Dollar (USD) strengthened on expectations that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will take a slightly hawkish stance after cutting its key lending rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 4.25%-4.50% on Wednesday. According to the CME FedWatch tool, traders have priced in a 25 bps rate cut for Wednesday's policy meeting. The data also showed that the Fed is expected to leave rates unchanged at its January meeting. Analysts at Macquarie said that the Fed's stance could shift "slightly...
The AUD/USD pair fell to a yearly low around 0.6340 during the European session on Tuesday. The Aussie pair weakened as the US Dollar (USD) moved higher amid strong expectations that the Federal Reserve (Fed) could signal a more gradual policy easing approach at its policy meeting on Wednesday after cutting interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) to 4.25%-4.50%. Source: FXStreet
Oil prices fell on Tuesday as Chinese economic data renewed demand concerns, while investors remained cautious ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate decision. Brent crude futures were down 32 cents at $73.59 a barrel by 0949 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 44 cents at $70.27 a barrel. Prices were "weighed down by profit-taking after last week's 6% rally and a batch of disappointing Chinese economic data yesterday," said IG market analyst Tony Sycamore. Prices fell from multi-week highs on Monday on unexpectedly weak consumer spending data from...
The dollar strengthened on Tuesday ahead of an expected interest rate cut in the United States, as traders grew more confident that the Federal Reserve will gradually lower borrowing costs next year. The euro, which is set to lose nearly 5% against the dollar this year, was trading at $1.04823 ahead of the Fed decision. The gap between U.S. and German 10-year yields is 216 basis points, near its widest in five years, after rising nearly 70 basis points in three months, further weighing on the euro. The Fed hands down its interest rate decision on Wednesday and interest rate futures imply...