The yen weakened past the key level of 155 versus the dollar after the Bank of Japan kept interest rates steady at its policy meeting. Japan's currency slid as much as 0.3% against the greenback to 155.27, a level last seen on Nov. 21. That followed a 0.9% slide in the yen on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates while signaling caution over future rate reductions. The 155 level for the dollar-yen pair is closely watched by strategists, who see a slide to this mark as a potential trigger for verbal intervention from Japanese authorities, and added pressure on the...
Gold (XAU/USD) prices staged a goodish intraday recovery from a one-month low, around $2,584-$2,610 region touched during the Asian session on Thursday (19/12), albeit without any follow-through buying. The Federal Reserve (Fed) signaled on Wednesday that it would slow the pace of interest rate cuts. This comes on top of persistent geopolitical risks and trade war fears, which in turn, dampened investors' appetite for riskier assets and drove some haven flows towards the precious metal. Meanwhile, the Fed's more hawkish view on the 2025 outlook remained supportive of a further uptick in the...
Oil prices fell in Asian trade on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled it would slow the pace of interest rate cuts in 2025, which could slow economic growth and reduce fuel demand. Brent crude futures were down 47 cents, or 0.6%, at $72.92 a barrel by 0515 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was down 39 cents, or 0.6%, at $70.19. The declines reversed most of the benchmark contracts' gains from Wednesday, when prices settled higher as U.S. crude stockpiles fell and the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points as expected. Prices weakened after U.S....
Silver (XAG/USD) prices extended their decline for the sixth straight session, trading around $29.50 per troy ounce during Asian trading hours on Thursday (12/19). The grey metal depreciated more than 3% following the release of the Federal Reserve's (Fed) interest rate decision on Wednesday. The Federal Reserve (Fed) delivered a 25 basis point (bps) interest rate cut at its December meeting, bringing its benchmark lending rate to a range of 4.25%-4.50%, the lowest level in two years. Additionally, during the Press Conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell made it clear that the Fed would be...
Gold (XAU/USD) price extended its goodish intraday recovery from one-month lows and climbed to a fresh intraday high, around $2,622 region during the early European session on Thursday. The global risk sentiment soured in reaction to the Federal Reserve's (Fed) hawkish interest rate cut on Wednesday. This, along with geopolitical risks and trade war fears, turned out to be the key factors driving safe-haven inflows towards the precious metal. Meanwhile, the US Dollar (USD) was seen consolidating the previous day's post-FOMC gains to a two-year high and did little to provide any impetus to...