HK stocks set for strongest weekly performance in 4 months

Yen at 2 month high up on rising bets on rate hikes this year

Gold stable near record peak, oil set for tandme.co.uk third weekly drop

By Ankur Banerjee

SINGAPORE, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Global stocks meandered on Friday ahead of crucial U.S. payrolls information as investors considered potential customers that a wider trade war could be averted, while the yen hit its greatest in almost 2 months on rising odds of more rate hikes in Japan this year.

In a week that started with U.S. President Donald Trump starting a trade war, investors have actually been hesitant in making significant moves as threatened tasks on China were carried out.

Beijing's determined tit-for-tat response has left room for settlements, say, which has actually enabled traders to focus on the AI theme in China in the wake of home-grown start-up DeepSeek's breakthrough.

European futures pointed to a suppressed open after the pan-European STOXX 600 index closed at a record high on Thursday on the back of robust business earnings.

European stocks have staged their finest performance in a years against Wall Street in the very first 6 weeks of 2025, however 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 relieved 0.21%.

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

In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index struck a three-month high, poised for a 4% rise 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 significant noise and uncertainty, we wear ´ 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 economic front, jobless claims, layoffs and forum.batman.gainedge.org labour costs/productivity supplied a beginning to Friday's keenly awaited January employment report, with the information most likely to reveal the effect of wild fires in California and winter throughout much of the nation.

Nonfarm payrolls are expected to have actually increased by 170,000 tasks last month after rising 256,000 in December, a Reuters poll of financial experts revealed.

"Markets might face some volatility around the information if it beats expectations, however it won't alter the path of the FOMC policy as more information 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 fully priced in as policymakers remain in no hurry to start the rate-cutting cycle again.

While political uncertainties kept investors cautious, asteroidsathome.net fears have alleviated that Trump's method to tariffs could intensify into an international trade war.

RISING YEN

The Japanese yen has been on a tear this week buoyed by safe-haven circulations in addition to increasing expectations of the Bank of Japan increasing rates of interest this year, with market value in 34 basis points of hikes for the year.

The yen touched 150.96 per dollar in early trading, its strongest level since December 10 however was last a tad weaker at 151.71. The currency is headed for an over 2% increase against the dollar this week, its greatest weekly performance since late November.

Sterling was 0.1% lower at $1.24255 after dropping 0.5% on Thursday as the BoE cut interest rates by 25 basis points but warned it would be careful moving forward, in the face of a possible inflation uptick and geopolitical concerns.

Oil costs increased marginally on Friday however were on track for a 3rd straight week of decrease.

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

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