Market News

Gold edged towards a seven-week high on Thursday as a plunge in global equities and sell-off in the dollar burnished the metal's safe-haven appeal.

Japanese stocks tumbled to a more than one-week low on Wednesday morning, as political uncertainty in Greece spooked world markets already under strain from a slide in crude oil prices and worries over global growth.

The Japanese Yen made strong gains during Tuesday’s Asian and European trade after the news that oil prices had fallen again sent FX investors in search of a safe haven. With risk appetite waning, commodity linked currencies such as the Australian and Canadian dollars were both under pressure as a result.

Asian stocks fell, after U.S. shares dropped the most in almost seven weeks, as oil extended its decline and a stronger yen weighed on Japanese exporters.

The U.S. Dollar struck a 7-year peak versus the Japanese Yen in the wake of unexpectedly strong labor data from the U.S. which tended to cement investors’ view of a forthcoming interest rate increase from the Federal Reserve Bank.

Oil prices fell more than a dollar on Monday and approached a five-year low hit early this month after Morgan Stanley cut its price forecast for Brent crude, saying oversupply will likely peak next year with OPEC deciding not to cut output.

Brent extended losses from a four-year low as Saudi Arabia offered customers in Asia record discounts on its crude, bolstering speculation it’s defending market share. West Texas Intermediate dropped in New York.

The Euro dipped to below the $1.23 level as investors await today’s policy review meeting outcome from the European Central Bank; the EUR/USD pair hasn’t traded at that low price since 2012.

Asia’s benchmark stock gauge rose as Chinese shares surged a third day and Japanese equities increased with the dollar at its strongest level since 2007 versus the yen. South Korea’s won slipped while oil climbed.

As investors await the European Central Bank’s policy decision on Thursday, and with more easing anticipated from the ECB, the Euro skidded to a 27-month low versus the strengthening U.S. Dollar.

The dollar marked a fresh seven-year high against the yen on Wednesday, which helped lift the Nikkei to a similar record, while oil prices recovered after data showed a drop in U.S. supply.

The U.S. Dollar Index edged higher after comments made by two officials of the Federal Reserve Bank helped to underpin the currency and kept expectations alive that the U.S. central bank will begin to tighten monetary policy by the second quarter of 2015.

Oil resumed declines after jumping from a five-year low and metals retreated amid the highest commodity-price volatility in two years. Asian stocks rebounded and South Korea’s won led emerging-market currencies higher.

The difficulties faced by the Japanese government and the Bank of Japan in restoring the economy to full health have not gone unnoticed by the world’s major credit rating agencies with Moody’s recently downgrading the country’s sovereign debt rating from AA3 to A1 and assigning Japanese debt with a “stable” outlook.

The decline in oil prices is proving to be the worst since the collapse of the financial system in 2008 and threatening to have the same global impact of falling prices three decades ago that led to the Mexican debt crisis and the end of the Soviet Union.