HK stocks set for strongest weekly performance in 4 months

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

Gold constant near record peak, oil set for 3rd weekly drop

By Ankur Banerjee

SINGAPORE, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Global stocks meandered on Friday ahead of essential U.S. payrolls data as investors thought about potential customers that a wider trade war could be avoided, while the yen struck its greatest in almost 2 months on rising chances of more rate hikes in Japan this year.

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

Beijing's determined tit-for-tat action has actually left space for fishtanklive.wiki settlements, experts say, which has actually enabled traders to concentrate on the AI theme in China in the wake of home-grown start-up DeepSeek's breakthrough.

European futures pointed to a subdued 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 actually staged their best performance in a decade 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 alleviated 0.21%.

Futures for Nasdaq and S&P 500 were down about 0.2% as shares of Amazon slipped in prolonged trading over night on weakness in the retailer's cloud computing unit 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 greatest weekly efficiency 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 highest considering that mid-December.

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

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

On the financial front, out of work claims, layoffs and labour costs/productivity supplied a beginning to Friday's acutely awaited January employment report, yewiki.org with the information likely to show the effect 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 surging 256,000 in December, a Reuters survey of economists showed.

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

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

While political uncertainties kept financiers careful, fears have relieved that Trump's approach to tariffs might intensify into an international trade war.

RISING YEN

The Japanese yen has actually been on a tear this week buoyed by safe-haven circulations in addition to increasing expectations of the Bank of Japan increasing rate of interest this year, with markets pricing 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 however was last a tad weaker at 151.71. The currency is headed for an over 2% rise against the dollar today, its strongest weekly performance given that late November.

Sterling was 0.1% lower at $1.24255 after dropping 0.5% on Thursday as the BoE cut rates of interest by 25 basis points however warned it would be careful 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 3rd straight week of decline.

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

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