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HK stocks set for greatest weekly efficiency in 4 months

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

Gold stable near record peak, oil set for wiki.die-karte-bitte.de 3rd weekly drop

By Ankur Banerjee

SINGAPORE, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Global stocks meandered on Friday ahead of essential U.S. payrolls information as financiers considered prospects that a wider trade war might be averted, while the yen struck its greatest in nearly 2 months on rising odds of more rate hikes in Japan this year.

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

Beijing's determined tit-for-tat response has left room for negotiations, experts say, which has allowed traders to focus on the AI style in China in the wake of home-grown start-up DeepSeek's advancement.

European futures pointed to a controlled open after the pan-European STOXX 600 index closed at a record high on Thursday on the back of robust company revenues.

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

Eurostoxx 50 futures were down 0.41%, bphomesteading.com while FTSE futures fell 0.39%. DAX futures alleviated 0.21%.

Futures for Nasdaq and S&P 500 were down about 0.2% as shares of Amazon slipped in extended trading overnight on weakness in the retailer's cloud computing system and soft projection.

In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index struck a three-month high, poised for a 4% increase in the week, classihub.in its strongest weekly efficiency by DeepSeek-led AI bets.

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

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

"China's larger issue is not Trump but the domestic economy."

On the economic front, unemployed claims, king-wifi.win layoffs and labour costs/productivity offered a prologue to Friday's keenly awaited January employment report, with the information most likely to show the effect of wild fires in California and wiki.vst.hs-furtwangen.de winter across much of the nation.

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

"Markets could deal with some volatility around the information if it beats expectations, however it will not change the course of the FOMC policy as more information will be needed," said Anderson Alves, a trader with ActivTrades.

Markets are pricing in 43 basis points of easing 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 careful, fears have alleviated that Trump's technique 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 rising expectations of the Bank of Japan increasing rate 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 greatest level because December 10 but was last a little weaker at 151.71. The currency is headed for an over 2% rise against the dollar today, its strongest weekly performance because 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 however cautioned it would beware going forward, in the face of a potential inflation uptick and geopolitical concerns.

Oil prices increased marginally on Friday however were on track for a third straight week of decline.

Gold rates 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; additional reporting by Stephen Culp, Marc Jones and Alun John; modifying by Shri Navaratnam and Sam Holmes)