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HK stocks set for strongest weekly performance in 4 months

Yen at two month high on increasing bets on rate walkings this year

Gold steady near record peak, oil set for third weekly drop

By Ankur Banerjee

SINGAPORE, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Global stocks meandered on Friday ahead of essential U.S. payrolls data as financiers considered potential customers that a more comprehensive trade war might be averted, while the yen struck its greatest in almost two months on rising chances of more rate hikes in Japan this year.

In a week that started with U.S. President Donald Trump beginning a trade war, investors have actually been reluctant in making significant relocations as threatened duties on China were carried out.

Beijing's determined tit-for-tat action has actually left room for negotiations, experts say, which has actually permitted traders to concentrate on the AI style in China in the wake of home-grown start-up DeepSeek's development.

European futures indicated a controlled open after the pan-European STOXX 600 index closed at a record high on Thursday on the back of robust business profits.

have actually staged their best performance in a years against Wall Street in the first 6 weeks of 2025, but focus is now on whether those gains can be sustained.

Eurostoxx 50 futures were down 0.41%, while FTSE futures fell 0.39%. DAX futures reduced 0.21%.

Futures for Nasdaq and S&P 500 were down about 0.2% as shares of Amazon insinuated extended trading over night on weak point in the retailer's cloud computing system and soft forecast.

In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index hit a three-month high, wiki.snooze-hotelsoftware.de poised for a 4% increase in the week, its strongest weekly performance sustained by DeepSeek-led AI bets.

China's blue-chip stock index was 0.4% greater after touching a one-month high leaving MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan at its greatest considering that mid-December.

"Whilst there is considerable noise and uncertainty, we put on ´ t see escalating trade stress as a game changer in the prospects for the Chinese market," said James Cook, financial investment director for emerging markets at Federated Hermes.

"China's bigger problem is not Trump but the domestic economy."

On the financial front, unemployed claims, layoffs and labour costs/productivity supplied a prologue to Friday's acutely awaited January employment report, lespoetesbizarres.free.fr with the information likely to reveal the impact of wild fires in California and winter throughout much of the country.

Nonfarm payrolls are anticipated to have actually increased by 170,000 jobs last month after rising 256,000 in December, a Reuters survey of economic experts revealed.

"Markets might face some volatility around the information if it beats expectations, however it won't change the path of the FOMC policy as more data will be required," said Anderson Alves, a trader with ActivTrades.

Markets are pricing in 43 basis points of reducing this year from the Fed with a rate cut in July totally priced in as policymakers remain in no rush to begin the rate-cutting cycle again.

While political uncertainties kept financiers wary, fears have actually reduced that Trump's method to tariffs could escalate into a global trade war.

RISING YEN

The Japanese yen has been on a tear today buoyed by safe-haven flows as well as increasing expectations of the Bank of Japan increasing rate of interest this year, with market value in 34 basis points of walkings for the year.

The yen touched 150.96 per dollar in early trading, its greatest level because December 10 but was last a tad weaker at 151.71. The currency is headed for an over 2% rise against the dollar this week, its greatest weekly efficiency given that late November.

Sterling was 0.1% lower at $1.24255 after dropping 0.5% on Thursday as the BoE cut rate of interest by 25 basis points but alerted it would beware going forward, in the face of a prospective inflation uptick and geopolitical concerns.

Oil costs increased marginally on Friday but were on track for a third straight week of decrease.

Gold prices steadied on Friday near record-high levels and were headed for their 6th succeeding weekly gain driven by safe-haven flows.

(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee; extra reporting by Stephen Culp, Marc Jones and Alun John; editing by Shri Navaratnam and Sam Holmes)