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 plunged over 3% on Monday, breaking a five-session rally to its highest in nearly three weeks, as reports of Israel nearing a ceasefire with Hezbollah, coupled with Trump's nomination of Scott Bessent as the U.S. Treasury Secretary soured the precious metal's safe-haven appeal. Spot gold fell 3.4% to $2,619.66 per ounce by 02:01 p.m. ET (1901 GMT), its biggest daily percentage decline since Jun.07. U.S. gold futures settled 3.5% lower to $2618.50. Traders are also gearing up for a pivotal week, with minutes from the Federal Reserve's November meeting, U.S. GDP revisions, and...
Israel is potentially days away from a cease-fire agreement with Lebanon's Hezbollah, the Israeli ambassador to the US said. Prices extended losses after Axios reported that Israel and Lebanon have accepted the terms of a ceasefire agreement. The parties haven't yet announced an agreement, it said. Bullion tumbled as much as 3% as traders unwound positions built last week amid rising geopolitical tensions, which helped the metal register the biggest weekly rally in 20 months. Traders were also digesting President-elect Donald Trump's pick of Scott Bessent for Treasury...
Gold tumbled as traders digested Donald Trump's pick of Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary and looked toward the Federal Reserve's next interest-rate decision. Bullion slid as much as 2.1%, after capping the biggest weekly rally in 20 months on Friday as an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict bolstered the metal's haven appeal. Prices fell on Monday even as the dollar and US bond yields weakened, moves that typically benefit gold. Markets broadly welcomed the choice of Bessent for Treasury Secretary as a measured choice that would inject more stability into...
The dollar fell and US government bonds rallied after Donald Trump picked Scott Bessent to run the Treasury, a Wall Street veteran who investors expect will take the sting out of the administration's more aggressive trade and economic policy proposals. A gauge of the greenback fell as much as 0.6% on Monday, its biggest decline in over two weeks, with the euro rebounding from the weakest level since 2022 reached last week. The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell as much as eight basis points to 4.32%, the lowest level since mid November. Bessent, who runs macro hedge fund...
Oil dipped as Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent pushed for increased US production and Israel said it's potentially days away from a cease-fire deal with Lebanon's Hezbollah. Brent crude fell below $75 a barrel after jumping almost 6% last week on increased geopolitical risks in Ukraine and Iran. Bessent advised President-elect Donald Trump to push for millions of barrels a day more of oil production or its equivalent, according to the Wall Street Journal. That push comes at the same time OPEC is set to decide on whether to add extra barrels to the market and...