Gold and silver have pushed higher heading into the EU session
London (Feb 22) On the first trading day of the week, gold and silver have moved higher leading into the EU open. The yellow metal continues its bounce from the consolidation low of $1764.73/oz that it printed slightly below last week. Silver has once again moved above the $27/oz handle to trade 0.60% higher overnight.
It was a mixed session in terms of risk in the Asia-Pac area. Only the Nikkei 225 managed to close in the black as it moved 0.46% higher. The ASX (-0.19%) and the Shanghai Composite (-1.45%) both struggled.
In the FX space, the dollar was the clear winner in terms of performance. It traded higher against most of its major counterparts. USD/JPY and USD/CHF were the biggest movers with the greenback rising 0.38% against both of the safe-havens. In the base metals arena, copper once again surged moving another 2% in the black to trade at $4.13/lb.
Overnight there was some news flow from the RBA who said they will not be raising interest rates within the next 3 years. We also heard from the shadow RBNZ board who said there is little need for monetary policy change.
In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to set out the road map for exiting the lockdown today at 3.30 pm (London time). The official press conference is scheduled at 7 pm (London time). Sticking with the UK, Chancellor Rishi Sunak is also said to be working on corporation tax hikes that could be announced on 3rd March.
The US 10 year yield continued to climb overnight to hit 1.3940% and Fed's Williams said the rise in 10-year yields is not a concern and is a response to fiscal support and vaccines.
Bitcoin hit another record high over the weekend breaching the 58K level. That was not the only digital currency to keep going ballistic as rose 10% too.
China's Wang Yi says root cause of strained US-China relations was previous US admin, Mr. Yi also stated China wants 'unreasonable' tariffs removed. Lastly, he said he said he hopes the US will abandon irrational suppression of China's tech progress.
Over in the US, it was reported that Caucus Chair stated that the $15 minimum wage will be incl in aid package.
Looking ahead to the rest of the session highlights include German IFO data and comments from ECB's Lagarde and Fed's Bowman.
KitcoNews
