London (AFP) – Stock markets struggled on Tuesday while gold and silver prices rebounded in fresh volatile trading. Oil prices rose and the dollar mostly dipped as investors weighed company earnings against geopolitical unrest. The price of gold climbed more than six percent to $4,989.20 an ounce. Last week, it reached a record-high close to $5,600 before tumbling. Gold is “heading for its biggest daily gain since 2008, as prices rebounded sharply following the steepest two-day decline in decades,” said analyst Axel Rudolph at trading platform IG.
Silver surged more than 15 percent to $86 on Tuesday, still well short of the record near $120 it hit last week. “A sense of calm descended after the precious metal ructions, opening the door for investors to buy on the dip,” noted Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor. Gold and silver prices have been on a tear in recent months, benefitting from being seen as safe haven investments during times of geopolitical tensions.
Demand for the precious metals was also being spurred by the sliding value of the dollar, which was weakened by speculation that US President Donald Trump is happy to see the world’s reserve currency weaken despite the potential risk of pushing up US inflation. Wall Street’s main equity markets wobbled in early trading, with the Dow striking a fresh all-time high before turning lower. The Nasdaq Composite was down more than one percent in early afternoon trading as tech shares mostly struggled, with shares in Nvidia sliding 2.8 percent.
In Europe, early gains failed to hold. Frankfurt and London ended the day lower while Paris finished flat. The euro and the pound rose against the dollar ahead of interest-rate decisions due Thursday from the European Central Bank and Bank of England. Investors were also keeping an eye on earnings from major companies this week, with particular attention on the tech sector and planned investment in artificial intelligence.
Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare said: “Palantir and Teradyne have helped put a bid in the equity futures market by sharing some better-than-expected earnings results and guidance that was tied to AI-related activity.” Shares in Palantir, a data and analytics firm that has extensive ties with the US government, jumped 7.5 percent as trading got under way, before paring gains. Shares in robotics firm Teradyne soared more than 12 percent. Shares in Disney fell 1.9 percent after it named Josh D’Amaro, head of its theme parks division, to replace Bob Iger as chief executive when he steps down next month.
Traders were also keeping tabs on Washington after Trump urged the House of Representatives to swiftly adopt a spending bill and end a fresh government shutdown. “The latest US government shutdown looks to provide yet another bout of disruption to the economic calendar for traders and investors alike” with jobs data postponed this week, said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.
Asian equities trading was more positive, with sentiment boosted by a rally on Wall Street on Monday following forecast-beating manufacturing data. That fed through to Asia, where Tokyo closed with a gain of 3.9 percent on Tuesday. Mumbai’s Nifty index soared almost five percent as investors welcomed President Donald Trump’s announcement of a US-India trade deal. Trump also pledged to cut tariffs on the country’s goods after Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to stop buying Russian oil over the war in Ukraine.
– Key figures at around 1630 GMT –
New York – Dow: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 49,380.58 points
New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.6 percent at 6,932.09
New York – Nasdaq: DOWN 1.3 percent at 23,288.65
London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.3 percent at 10,314.59 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: FLAT at 8,179.50 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 24,780.79 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 3.9 percent at 54,720.66 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.2 percent at 26,834.77 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 1.3 percent at 4,067.74 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1814 from $1.1793 on Monday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3699 from $1.3667
Dollar/yen: UP at 155.76 yen from 155.60 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.26 pence from 86.29 pence
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.9 percent at $66.91 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.1 percent at $62.82 per barrel
© 2024 AFP
