GOLD: Gold Higher for the Week on Rate Cut Speculation.
- Gold surged on Thursday and carried over into Friday on the back of USD weakness ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve Decision.
- Gold touched $2,565 in Asia’s morning trading session, up 0.30% on the day.
- Gold has had a strong week and is set to finish up over 2% on last Friday’s close of $2,557.90.
- This year’s surge in gold prices has been supported by Central Bank’s continuing to buy gold and Geo-Political tensions on the rise in the Middle East.
- This week alone saw data from the Reserve Bank of India confirming that they continue to add to their Gold Reserves adding a further 5 tonnes in July, increasing their total reserves to approximately 850 tonnes.
Want to read more?
Find more articles and bullets on these widgets:
Historical bullets
ASIA STOCKS: China & HK Equities Lower As Weak Loan Demand Continues
Chinese & Hong Kong stocks declined after data showed a contraction in bank loans to the real economy, the first in 19 years. The weak demand underscores ongoing sentiment issues following the real estate market decline, and while bond issuance trends are encouraging, further policy rate cuts may be necessary to stimulate demand.
- Hong Kong equities initially opened the session higher, before paring gains. The HSI is down 0.10%, while both property and tech indices are 0.40% lower. China mainland equities are trading slightly worse than their HK peers, with CSI 300 down 0.40% while the growth focused ChiNext Index is off 1%.
- China's stock market turnover dropped to its lowest level in over four years, with combined transactions on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges hitting just 496b yuan. This decline reflects growing pessimism as investors shift focus to government bonds amid a weakening economy and an ongoing housing crisis.
- In the property space, Moody's downgraded China Vanke's debt rating to B1 from Ba3 and further into junk territory due to weakening sales and ongoing margin pressure amid China's property market slump. Despite efforts to secure financing and deleverage, concerns remain about Vanke's financial health, with its dollar bonds trading at significant discounts, reflecting fears of long-term risk.
- Tomorrow, we have China Industrial Production & Retail Sales followed by Hong Kong's GDP on Friday
CHINA PRESS: China Express Delivery Index Up In July
The China Express Delivery Development Index reached 393.9 in July, up 11.8% y/y, according to the State Post Bureau. Express deliveries hit 100 billion items 71 days faster than in 2023, underscoring consumer trends to increase online shopping especially during holidays and promotional seasons, said Fu Yifu, researcher at the Xingtu Financial Research Institute. Average monthly volumes have exceeded 13 billion items this year, with average monthly income over CNY100 billion, both historical highs, the bureau said. (Source: Securities Daily)
CHINA PRESS: China Extends Re-loans To Support Disaster Relief
China’s central bank has increased its re-loan quota for supporting agricultural and small businesses by CNY100 billion across 12 provinces to support extreme weather prevention and reconstruction, Yicai reports. Authorities will offer a one-year re-loan rate at 1.75%, significantly lower than the one-year medium-term lending facility’s 2.3%, Yicai noted. Wang Qing, chief macro-analyst at Golden Credit Rating International, said the measure would add to positive growth of total credit in the third quarter.
