China has pledged to implement more proactive fiscal stimulus measures and adopt moderately looser monetary policies in 2025, as per official readout from a key policy meeting held by the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.
The Canadian dollar and Australian dollar were in focus on Monday ahead of their central bank meetings this week, while the euro and other major currencies lost a bit more ground to a strong U.S. dollar.
Buying into the yellow metal was fueled largely by increased haven demand, after rebel forces took over Syria’s capital Damascus and ousted President Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Russia.
Caution over more distributions by defunct exchange Mt. Gox also weighed, after a wallet associated with the exchange moved over $2 billion worth of coins last week. Such a move usually heralds a distribution event, with Mt. Gox still holding billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin it plans to return to creditors.
Global shares held steady on Monday, as investors took geopolitical tumult in their stride, leaving oil and gold modestly higher, while the dollar edged up ahead of U.S. inflation data this week that could cement a December rate cut.
President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House is seen fuelling a dealmaking revival that could bolster investment banking income to $316 billion globally next year, a jump of about 5.7% on 2024, data seen by Reuters shows.
An outsized cut by the Fed earlier this year had provided some leeway to Asian central banks to cut rates, but weakening domestic currencies, and inflation staying above target range in some economies, have pushed back expectations of near-term rate cuts.
The group, known as OPEC+ and responsible for about half of the world’s oil output, was planning to start unwinding cuts from October 2024, but a slowdown in global demand – especially in China – and rising output elsewhere have forced it to postpone the plan several times.
The world’s biggest cryptocurrency surged to record highs on Thursday amid increased optimism over friendlier crypto regulations under incoming President Donald Trump. Traders were particularly cheered by Trump’s pick of a pro-crypto candidate to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Crude oil for January delivery was up 0.13% or 0.09 to $68.39 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in February rose 0.04% or 0.03 to hit $72.12 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.43% or 11.51 to trade at $2,659.91 a troy ounce.
