Hong Kong shares were little changed in Friday morning deals, hovering around 26,165 after two sessions of declines, as weakness in property and financials was offset by gains in tech and consumer stocks. Traders assessed China's CPI data showing consumer prices flat in 2025, below the official target of around 2%, even as December inflation hit a near 3-year high of 0.8%. Meanwhile, producer prices in the country fell for the 39th straight month, although the pace of decline eased slightly. In the U.S., stock futures were steady ahead of key jobs data, while the Supreme Court prepared to...
European stocks continued to strengthen on Monday, October 27, 2025, as markets grew more confident after the US and China announced they had a preliminary framework for a trade agreement. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose around 0.2%, Germany's DAX index moved up around 0.1%, and the UK's FTSE 100 gained around 0.7%. Investors saw signs that trade tensions between the world's two largest economies were beginning to ease, making the risk of a global recession feel slightly less looming. This gain comes after an already very strong week. The FTSE 100 just hit a record close above 9,600...
Japanese stocks closed at a new record high after market sentiment grew more optimistic. Investors now believe the US Fed will continue to cut interest rates after US inflation (CPI) data appeared more benign. This has led global markets to believe that high interest rate pressures will soon ease. Domestically, strong public support for the new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, also helped boost risk appetite. The result: the Topix rose 1.7% to 3,325.05, and the Nikkei jumped 2.5% to 50,512.32—breaking through the psychological 50,000 level for the first time. These gains were nearly uniform....
The Hang Seng Index rose as Hong Kong markets expressed relief following the initial agreement between China and the United States in Kuala Lumpur. Investors began to believe that trade relations between the world's two largest economies would be more stable, leading to a return to risk appetite. On Monday morning, the Hang Seng rose around 0.7% to 26,342, while the Hang Seng Tech Index also rallied. Major technology and industrial stocks led the gains: WuXi AppTec surged more than 7%, Chinese chipmaker SMIC rose almost 4%, Baidu rose almost 3%, and Alibaba also rose above 3%. This means...
That the US and China were nearing a trade deal triggered a cross-asset rally, lifting stocks, oil and copper along with China-exposed currencies such as the Australian dollar. Treasuries and gold dropped. Asian shares rose 0.8% with stocks in Japan and South Korea jumping by around 2%. Futures for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 advanced after both underlying indexes closed at a record high last week. Futures for US copper — a bellwether for global growth — surged, as did oil, with the potential US-China deal bolstering the outlook for global demand. The...
Japanese stocks are expected to continue strengthening due to a combination of two factors favored by the market: a weakening yen and expectations of economic stimulus from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government. Nikkei futures traded on the SGX were recorded as rising around 1.5%, while USD/JPY was trading around 153 per US dollar, weakening from its previous closing level. A weak yen is usually good news for Japanese exporters because their dollar sales appear larger when converted into yen. On the political front, market participants are closely monitoring the economic measures being...