Market News

Asian shares slipped on Tuesday while the euro hit a fresh one-year low on uncertainty over the European Central Bank's policy decision later this week.

Asian shares edged higher on Monday, with investors wary of a deepening crisis in Ukraine and a downbeat China manufacturing survey; the euro touched a fresh one-year low ahead of this week's European Central Bank meeting.

Asian stocks fell, with the regional benchmark index headed for its first monthly decline since April, led by materials and consumer shares. Friday’s slump followed flaring Ukraine tensions which spoiled investor risk appetite and bolstered the safe-haven yen.

Ahead of today’s release of Germany CPI data and tomorrow’s inflation report for the Eurozone, the common currency managed to hold onto some modest gains against the greenback but investors multi-pronged concerns pushed the Euro lower.

Asian stocks crept up on Thursday following another steady performance by Wall Street shares which hovered near record highs, while the euro clung to modest gains after rebounding from 13-month lows.

Though Mario Draghi has been adding fuel to existing speculation that the ECB could shift to an even more accommodative stance, the Finance Minister of Germany, Wolfgang Schaeuble, has been downplaying just such a possibility, dismissing the ECB chief’s comments at the Jackson Hole central bankers’ symposium as “over-interpreted” by analysts.

Asian stocks rose yesterday after U.S. data on durable goods and consumer confidence boosted optimism in the strength of the world’s largest economy.

The U.S. Dollar remained steady during Tuesday trade in London while the Euro continued to under pressure as expectations grow that weak inflation data from the Eurozone, due to be released on Friday, will push the ECB into committing to additional stimulus.

Though market players were waiting anxiously to hear what Janet Yellen, the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, had to say last Friday at the Jackson Hole symposium for central bankers, it was Mario Draghi of the ECB who brought the house down, and the Euro along with it.

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Geopolitics between Russia and Ukraine reared its head once again and pushed investors toward safe haven currencies like the Swiss Franc and the Japanese Yen, which both rose versus the common currency Euro.

A hawkish sounding U.S. Federal Reserve helped to lift the U.S. Dollar Index, however unexpectedly strong German data boosted the Euro from a recent 11-month trough.

Asian shares came under pressure on Thursday as a disappointing survey on Chinese manufacturing stoked concerns about the regional giant and overshadowed better news from Japan.

Asian stocks fell after valuations reached the highest level this year and as BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) slumped, dragging materials shares to the largest decline on the regional gauge.

The U.S. Dollar firmed in Asian trade after it was reported that a keenly watched U.S. housing index improved for the third consecutive month, rising to a 7-month peak; according to the jointly issued report from Wells Fargo Bank and the NAHB, the reading improved to 55 this month from July’s 53, beating analysts’ expectations.