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...
Oil extended declines as a soft outlook for demand in China, the world's largest crude importer, continued to plague the market. West Texas Intermediate retreated 3.3% to settle near $68 a barrel, while Brent settled below $72. Data over the weekend showed anemic Chinese consumer inflation in October and another decline in factory-gate prices. The dollar climbed further, making commodities priced in the currency less appealing. The retreat in crude prices comes alongside weakness in key market indicators. The nearest WTI futures contract traded at its...
Gold fell to a near two-month low on Monday as the dollar continued to rally following Donald Trump's win in the U.S. presidential election. Gold for December delivery was last seen down US$74.90 to US$2,619.00 per ounce, the lowest since Sept.19. The drop comes as the dollar rose to the highest since July, with the ICE dollar index last seen up 0.58 points to 105.58. The currency's rally began after Trump defeated Vice-President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election and comes despite a second cut to U.S. interest rates on Thursday by the Federal Reserve. "An eventful week that saw...
Gold fell to the lowest in a month as traders booked profits after a volatile week that saw prices whipsaw in the wake of Donald Trump's presidential election win and a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut. Bullion slumped by as much as 2.6% to $2,614.14 an ounce on Monday, the lowest intraday level since Oct. 10. That followed last week's 1.9% drop after Trump's victory spurred rallies in equity markets and the greenback. Strength in the S&P 500 Index and the US dollar "is frequently associated with a negative gold response as the USD is seen as moving higher for ‘good'...
Gold dropped on Monday, after a volatile week which saw prices whipsaw as the dollar surged in the wake of Donald Trump's election win a day before the Federal Reserve cut interest rates. Bullion traded near $2,665 an ounce after falling almost 2% last week. The precious metal received support from US central bank easing, but was buffeted as investors weighed the likely impact of the tax cuts, trade tariffs and looser regulations that Trump is pledging. While gold may benefit from demand as a hedge against inflationary pressures resulting from those policies, Wall Street economists...
Oil prices extended declines on Monday as the threat of a supply disruption from a U.S. storm eased and after China's stimulus plan disappointed investors seeking fuel demand growth in the world's No. 2 oil consumer.Brent crude futures dropped 19 cents, or 0.3%, to $73.68 a barrel by 0104 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at $70.13 a barrel, down 25 cents, or 0.4%. Both benchmarks fell more than 2% last Friday. Beijing's stimulus package announced at the National People's Congress (NPC) standing committee meeting on Friday fell short of market expectations, IG...