The Hang Seng rose 186 points, or 0.7%, to close at 25,968 on Thursday, reversing early declines as sentiment improved following reports that the U.S. and China will hold another round of high-level trade talks this weekend at the 47th ASEAN Summit. Markets also rebounded from steep losses the previous day, as traders awaited a communique from China's fourth plenum, which may outline the government's economic, political, and social agenda, including five-year development plans. Investors largely shrugged off reports that Washington could impose broad export restrictions on China in...
The dollar strengthened to its highest level in a month, as investors sought safe havens amid weakening global stock and bond markets. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.7%, its biggest intraday gain since July 30. The currency strengthened against all G-10 currencies, with the Japanese yen and British pound weakening sharply. Traders expected the dollar to remain relatively stable on a day dominated by headlines about the UK budget crunch and potential political upheaval in Japan. Despite the prospect of weaker employment figures, the dollar could draw support from stalled yuan...
Gold briefly hit a record high as the prospect of a US interest rate cut and growing concerns over the Federal Reserve's future provided fresh impetus to the precious metal's multi-year rally. Gold bullion for immediate delivery rose as much as 0.9% on Tuesday to reach $3,508 an ounce, surpassing its previous high set in April before paring gains as the dollar strengthened. The precious metal has gained more than 30% this year, making it one of the best-performing major commodities. The latest rally was driven by expectations that the US central bank will cut interest rates this month,...
Oil prices rose to their highest level in nearly a month, driven by technical buying ahead of this weekend's OPEC+ meeting. Brent rose above $69 per barrel, marking its fourth gain in five days. Trend-following Commodity Trading Advisors have been buying crude consistently over the past few weeks, helping push prices higher, according to Nicky Ferguson, head of analytics at Energy Aspects Ltd. Their buying is likely to continue for a few more days, he said. OPEC+ will meet later this week to decide on October production. Most market observers expect the group to opt to keep supply...
The EUR/USD pair ended its five-day winning streak on Tuesday and weakened from Monday's high of 1.1735, trading just below 1.1700 at the time of writing at the European open. Investors are hesitant ahead of the release of preliminary Eurozone Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures, but so far, downside attempts have been limited. The US dollar (USD) weakened amid growing concerns about the independence of the US Federal Reserve (Fed). Eurozone inflation is expected to remain stable near the European Central Bank's (ECB) 2% interest rate target, further justifying the bank's decision to keep...
The U.S. dollar clawed back some ground in Asian trading on Tuesday following five days of selling, ahead of the return of U.S. traders from the Labor Day holiday. The dollar index was last up 0.2% at 97.873, having touched its lowest since July 28 on Monday. Gold hit an all-time high. "Capital markets across equities and credit are still optimistic on the U.S., which suggests that foreign holders of U.S. assets are not in retreat," analysts from DBS wrote in a client note. Traders have sold the greenback as U.S. President Donald Trump's attacks on the Federal Reserve, including his...