Gold prices continued to fall during Asian trade on Thursday as persistent worries that Greece may default and leave the Euro Zone increased the safe-haven appeal of the greenback. COMEX gold June contract trade at 1,591.25 US Dollars per troy ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, falling by 0.19%.
China's expansion of exports and imports slowed down last month, lingering concerns over the stagnation of the country's economy. The data may stimulate further easing of the monetary policy. Exports increased by annualized 4.9% in April as compared to 8.9% expansion in March. At the same time, imports' growth decelerated from 3.5% to 0.3% in April, indicating decline in the
Japan current account surplus narrowed in March by 8.6 % from a year earlier making up $ 19.95 billion, which is better than expected by economists. The reasons behind current account surplus contraction are the Europe's sovereign debt crisis, the strong Yen and increasing energy imports. Japanese exports grew to 7.3 %, whereas imports soared to 11.9 %.
Despite rising Eurozone's worries due to the recent elections in France and Greece, the Euro has weakened slightly, breaking out of its trading range of $ 1.30 to $1.32. On Wednesday EUR/USD depreciated to $ 1.2930. However, European stocks have fallen significantly with Euro Stoxx banks index reaching its lowest level since 2009. Bond markets are under pressure as well.
Political situation in Europe raises concerns about possible slowdown of Chinese export to old continent.of Chinese export to old continent. Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index closed at 2408.59 after 1.7% drop. Both, Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index and Bloomberg China-US 55 Index, lost 1.9% of their starting value today. These were the biggest falls in last 6 weeks. Cosco Holdings
Spanish 10-year bond yields topped 6% level on Wednesday. This happened for the first time since April 26. Specialists state that this is happening due to continuing political turmoil in Greece and Spanish government plans to bail out its fourth largest bank Bankia SA announced earlier this week.
Gold prices fell to their lowest level in four months due to the renewed Eurozone concerns gain attention. Greece appears to be unable to form a government, while Hollande's victory in the France's presidential election increased worries concerning possible tensions between France and Germany. Gold futures for May delivery decreased by 2.1% to $1604 an ounce.
Unresolved coalition dillema in Greece depressed stock prices of Swiss companies to the bottom level this year. Swiss Market Index dropped by 0.4% to 5953.74 and Swiss Performance Index shrank 0.3% during morning trade. Actelion and Novartis AG lost 1.3% and 0.7% of their value respectively. Holcim managed to experience 1.2% gain after promising to present cost-cutting plans next week.
Moody's Investors Service is going to downgrade credit ratings of no less than 100 banks this month. This would raise their financing costs and force them to limit their lending. UBS AG, Credit Suisse Group AG and Morgan Stanley could be downgraded by three levels on their long term debt. JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and HSBC Holdings by two levels. Bank of
The IMF favours the SNB floor of CHF 1.20 against the common currency, as negative news coming from the Eurozone and particularly strong Swiss Franc have increased deflationary risks. If the Eurozone debt crisis worsens, the IMF anticipates the Franc to be under enduring pressure. Therefore, further monetary expansion might be necessary to maintain the floor value.
The recent Greek parliamentary elections are seen as a possible driver for Greece to exit the Eurozone with unpredictable impact for the European economy. The Euro depreciated and stocks fell due to negative news coming from the Euro area. If Greece appears to be unable to form a government, the country will face another round of election this June.
German exports and imports reach new hights after previous record level a year ago, March 2011. In March 2012, Europe's biggest economy exported and imported goods worth EUR 98.9b and EUR 81.5b respectively, accumulating foreign exchange surplus to EUR 17.4b. Balance of payments was in surplus of EUR 19.8b. This includes surpluses in balance of services and net factor income,
MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped by almost 1.5% at noon in Tokyo and signals possible close at lowest level since January 19. Nikkei 225 lost 1.7% of its value. Mitsubishi Motors, which got almost quarter of its revenues from Europe at the end of last year, dropped by 2.3%. Stocks of Cosco's ship building department plummeted after Singapore based company
Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard is determined to bring the state budget back to surplus by spending cuts. The projected surplus is estimated to be $1.52 billion in the fiscal year commencing this July. Thus, the government plans to support Australian bonds and currency, as the European woes have not been supportive for the Aussie.
Alexis Tspiras, who is responsible for government formation in Greece, announced that any parties which are willing to form coalition with his party, Syriza, have to repudiate their uphold for economy saving measures developed by European union. Tsipras promised that additional, EUR 11b, austerity measures will not come in to force and strongly believes that Pasok and New Democracy party,
Annual rate (seasonally adjusted) of housing starts in Canada in April 2012 was almost 250 000, which was 20% more than anticipated. Level of single urban start-ups remained stable around 67 000. The most significant increase was observed in urban and multiple urban segments which increased by 18% and 27.4% respectively. Geographically the largest growth was observed in Quebec and Ontario areas, 56.5% and 12.2% correspondingly.
German DAX index edged lower on Tuesday as worries intensified over the inability of Greek parties to form a new government. The losses were limited as data showed industrial output in Germany accelerated three times as much as economists predicted in March. BMW retreated from previous gains and dropped 1.8%. On the upside Deutsche Telekom climbed 1.7% and Fresenius Medical
UK FTSE 100 index moved lower on Tuesday after investors returned from holiday and priced the French election results and Greek inability to form government. Miners and oil providers weighed on British main index. Vedanta Resources fell 4.4% and Randgold Resources tumbled 3.1%. Negative trend was bucked by Tullow Oil which announced it has found more oil in its Ngamia
Rural commodities advanced on Monday on the expectation for stronger demand for US supplies. However, solid US Dollar limited the gains.Wheat rose as demand for US supplies is likely to be boosted as winter crops in the EU were damaged by unfavorable weather conditions.Corn eased up despite expectation for record-high production in Ukraine and Brazil. Increased risk-aversion among investors also
Energy commodities declined amid turmoil in the Euro Zone after recent elections in Greece and France provoked worries about the region's debt crisis.Crude oil tumbled as anxiety about energy demand dented risk-appetite among investors. Meanwhile, traders are cautions ahead of the IEA report on the US energy stockpiles due later today.Brent oil continued its downward trend as dialogue between Iran
Industry metals were mixed in choppy trade on Monday as LME was closed for holiday. Base metals came under additional pressure after elections in Greece and France.Aluminum declined amid weak European equities and deteriorated outlook on the Euro Zone's recovery. Broadly stronger US dollar also weighed on the light metal.Copper closed slightly higher as spot market in China tightened after
Precious metals were strongly pressured by weaker Euro after elections in Greece and France.Gold tumbled amid broadly stronger US Dollar as elections' results hinted that the Euro Zone is far away from resolution of its financial difficulties. However, strong China's demand may revive gold prices in the nearest term.Silver was the top-loser, following the EU equities and weak Euro that
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average recovered on Tuesday though gains were limited by persisting uncertainty over Europe. Nikkei 225 index climbed 0.69% or 62.51 point and settled at 9,181.65. Toshiba Corp added 2.9% before its earnings report. Honda Motor gained 2.2% after Credit Suisse raised the stocks to outperform and lifted its price target. Toyota Motor surged 1.1% on news it
Hong Kong's shares followed their Chinese peers on Tuesday and traded lower after Sany Heavy Industry announced it may lower its sales estimate for 2012, fuelling worries a slowing real estate market will curb revenues in the construction industry. Hang Seng index dropped 0.25% or 51.90 points and closed at 20,484.75, marking loss for a sixth straight session. Aluminum Corp