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...
West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the U.S. crude benchmark, was trading around $67.90 on Tuesday. WTI prices recovered amid rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East following the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Over the weekend, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family fled to Moscow and were granted political asylum, ending 50 years of brutal dictatorship. The fall of the Syrian leader's regime could lead to a conflict involving regional countries, boosting WTI prices. Mitsubishi UFJ Research's Tomochi Akuta noted that these geopolitical risks are driving crude...
The key issue is whether Governor Michele Bullock heeds market assessments that last week's unexpectedly weak third-quarter GDP is a game-changer for the economic and inflation outlook The data showed Australia's economy grew at its slowest pace since 1991 — excluding the exogenous shock of the Covid pandemic. And it confirmed that GDP growth is slowing much more than the 2012-13 slump — which came just after the RBA last started an easing cycle. The RBA is widely expected to leave policy unchanged on Tuesday. However, the GDP figures prompted OIS traders to view February as a coin toss...
Oil prices climbed more than 1.5% on Monday on higher geopolitical risk after the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and as top importer China flagged its first move towards a loosened monetary policy stance since 2010. Brent crude futures were up $1.17, or 1.7%, to $72.30 per barrel at 12:50 p.m. ET (1451 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up $1.34, or 2%, to $68.55. China's slowdown was a factor behind the decision of oil producers' group OPEC+ last week to postpone its plans for higher output until April. Weighing on prices, leading exporter Saudi Aramco...
Gold prices hit two-week highs on Monday, climbing more than 1% on renewed buying of the metal by China's central bank following a six-month hiatus, with bullishness increased by anticipation of a U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate cut next week. Spot gold gained 1.1% to $2,662.98 per ounce, as of 01:41 p.m. ET (1841 GMT). U.S. gold futures settled 1% higher at $2,685.50. The resumption of Chinese buying may support investor demand in the country. In 2023, China was the world's largest official sector buyer of gold, but the PBOC paused its 18-month buying streak in May. Spot silver added...
Gold price (XAU/USD) nudges higher on Monday's early European session, favoured by its safe-aven status amid the increasing uncertainty in the Middle East after the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria. Beyond that, The People's Bank of China (PBoC) announced over the weekend that it resumed Gold purchases in November after a six-month pause, which is giving an additional boost to the precious metal. Data from the US released on Friday revealed that the country's labour market remains solid, but the increasing unemployment rate confirmed expectations that the Federal Reserve (Fed)...