The Hang Seng index slumped 206 points, or 0.8%, to close at 25,952 on Tuesday, losing early gains as sentiment soured amid a broad sectoral decline. The technology index fell 1.8% after US President Trump said Nvidia would be banned from selling its most advanced AI chips to China, although it would allow some sales to Beijing. Traders largely shrugged off reports that China was raising subsidies, cutting energy bills for major data centers. Consumer and property stocks also weakened, following declines in mainland China as US index futures plunged on uncertainty over the Fed's interest...
Oil prices slumped in early Asian trading on Monday (August 4th), after OPEC+ agreed to another large production increase in September. Brent crude fell 43 cents, or 0.62%, to $69.24 a barrel at 22:18 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $66.94 a barrel, down 39 cents, or 0.58%, after both contracts closed about $2 a barrel lower on Friday. OPEC+ agreed on Sunday to increase oil production by 547,000 barrels per day for September, the latest in a series of accelerated production increases to regain market share amid growing concerns over potential supply disruptions linked...
The Australian Dollar (AUD) remains under pressure against the US Dollar (USD) on Friday, giving back most of its earlier gains despite broad weakness in the Greenback following a disappointing Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) data. The AUD/USD initially surged nearly 70 pips after US jobs data surprised to the downside, but the momentum quickly faded as markets shifted focus to rising expectations of an interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) at its upcoming meeting on August 12. The dovish outlook is keeping the Aussie pinned near multi-week lows. At the time of writing, the...
Oil prices $2 a barrel on Friday because of jitters about a possible increase in production by OPEC and its allies, while a weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report fed worries about demand. Brent crude futures settled at $69.67 a barrel, down $2.03, or 2.83%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude finished at $67.33 a barrel, down $1.93, or 2.79%. Brent finished the week with a gain near 6%, while WTI rose 6.29%. Three people familiar with discussions among OPEC members and allied producers said the group may reach an agreement as early as Sunday to boost production by 548,000 barrels per day...
The yen has suffered a difficult month, but BCA Research thinks the Japanese currency is primed for a multi-year rally. At 08:30 ET (12:30 GMT), USD/JPY traded 0.2% lower at Y150.49, having earlier in the session climbed as high as Y150.91, the Japanese currency's lowest level since March 28. However, BCA Research sees the potential for a sharp recovery, basing its bullish cyclical thesis for the yen rests on three pillars: valuations, balance of payments, and policy normalization. The bank's long-term valuation models are unequivocal: the yen is attractively priced, especially versus the...
The EUR/USD surges more than 1% on Friday as the Greenback gets battered on a worse-than-expected jobs report in the United States (US), which triggered investors' reaction to price in two interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve (Fed). Data across the pond was shrugged off by traders, which sent the pair from around lows of 1.1391 toward 1.1597. Wall Street extended its losses amidst fears of an economic slowdown in the US. July Nonfarm Payroll (NFP) figures were expected to be weaker compared to June's, but the downward revisions of the previous two months, alongside last month's print,...