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Asian shares rise, kiwi plunges as New Zealand cuts rates

Asian shares rose and the dollar nursed losses on Wednesday after soft U.S. producer prices information stirred hopes that consumer cost inflation would be benign, sending out bond yields lower.

The kiwi dollar plunged 0.7% after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut rates of interest by 25 basis points to 5.25%. and forecasted more alleviating to come.

Contributing to the hectic news circulation in the Asia morning were. headlines that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida would step. down as ruling party leader in September, ending a three-year. term marked by rising prices and spoiled by political scandals.

The yen reinforced a little to 146.53 per dollar. and the benchmark Nikkei gave up gains to be flat after. news of Kishida's resignation broke. Still, the Japanese stock. index remains well above the lows hit after last week's huge. selloff.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan. climbed 0.5%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng,. however, slipped 0.4%, and mainland blue chips lost. 0.6%.

U.S. equity futures were flat after a strong rebound on Wall. Street overnight as information revealed U.S. producer costs increased by. less than anticipated in July, suggesting inflation continued to. moderate.

That led markets to push up the opportunity of an outsized. half-point rate cut from the Federal Reserve in September to 53%. from 50% a day earlier, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Goldman Sachs lowered their expectations for the core. Personal Consumption Expenses (PCE) price index, the Fed's. favored gauge of inflation, to be up 0.14% in July, moderating. from the previous projection of 0.17%.

Financiers now wait for necessary consumer price figures for. July later on in the day where financial experts look for increases of 0.2% in. both the heading and core, with the annual core slowing a tick. to 3.2%.

Threat will discover purchasers if additional implied rate cuts are. driven by a minimized inflation dynamic, said Chris Weston, head. of research study at Pepperstone.

Nevertheless, the reverse is true if any additional rate cuts. are driven by weaker growth or bad labour market readings--. today's U.S. retail sales report could for that reason be. prominent on that thesis.

U.S. bonds saw solid purchasing over night with two-year yields. at 3.4142%, having actually fallen 7 basis points in the. offshore session.

Ten-year Treasury yields held at 3.3341% after a. drop of 5 bps overnight.

The U.S. dollar was dragged lower by falling bond yields. It. held at 102.62 versus its major peers, having fallen. 0.5% overnight.

The euro jumped 0.6% overnight and was last at. $ 1.0996, nearing a significant resistance level of $1.1.

In products, crude oil recovered a few of the previous. day's losses as estimates revealed diminishing U.S. crude and. fuel stocks. They had actually been on a winning streak on. concerns about an imminent attack from Iran on Israel.

Brent crude futures increased 0.6% to $81.19 a barrel,. while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude likewise gained 0.7%. to $78.91.

Gold costs were 0.1% higher at $2,468.78 an ounce.

(source: Reuters)