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 prices slide ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting, with traders cautiously waiting for cues on the U.S. central bank's outlook for 2025. Futures trade 0.4% lower at $2,652.75 a troy ounce. A widely anticipated 25-basis-point rate cut is already fully priced into markets, according to analysts, but further cuts are less certain. Meanwhile, U.S. PMI data showed the services sector rose at a faster-than-expected pace. "The resilience of the U.S. economy supports our view that the Fed's 2025 rate cutting cycle is likely to be shallow," ANZ Research analysts say. "We expect a...
Oil prices nudged lower on Tuesday as China's economic data renewed demand concerns, while investors remained cautious ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate decision. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was down 11 cents at $70.60 a barrel at 0802 GMT, while Brent crude futures eased 2 cents to $73.89 a barrel. Prices were "weighed on by profit-taking after last week's 6% rally and a batch of disappointing Chinese economic data yesterday," IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said. On Monday, prices fell from multi-week highs on unexpected weakness in consumer spending data from...
The Japanese Yen (JPY) continues to struggle to attract meaningful buyers and held near a three-week low against its US counterpart heading into the European session on Tuesday. Firming expectations that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will keep short-term interest rates unchanged later this week, coupled with a positive risk tone, continued to undermine the JPY's safe-haven appeal. Moreover, bets for a less dovish Federal Reserve (Fed) continued to support a pickup in the US Treasury bond yields, which turned out to be another factor weighing on the lower-yielding JPY. However, JPY market players...
Silver held below $30.5 an ounce on Tuesday (12/17) after facing heavy selling pressure in recent sessions, weighed down by concerns about a more measured pace of easing from the U.S. Federal Reserve next year. The Fed is widely expected to deliver a 25 basis point interest rate cut this week, but may signal fewer cuts for 2025 amid concerns about a potential resurgence in inflation. Silver and other metals are also facing pressure from ongoing demand uncertainty in China, the world's largest consumer of the metal. Earlier this week, data showed that China's retail sales growth slowed more...
Oil prices fell further on Tuesday as Chinese economic data renewed demand concerns, while investors remained cautious ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate decision. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was down 11 cents at $70.60 a barrel by 0409 GMT, while Brent crude was down 6 cents at $73.85 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 China,...