Spot gold prices on Wednesday hit $4,000 for the first time as safe‑haven demand continues to drive the yellow metal’s prices higher.
The latest rise “likely reflects safe‑haven demand tied to the U.S. government shutdown and the resignation of Sebastien Lecornu as France’s prime minister,” Vivek Dhar, head of commodities at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said in a note.
That comes after a summer that saw U.S. tariff-led uncertainty rock the global economy.
Yields on the U.S. 10-year and 30-year Treasurys were little changed. The dollar index climbed 0.32% to 98.883.
Meanwhile, Asia-Pacific stock markets traded mixed Wednesday, breaking ranks from Wall Street losses, after the World Bank raised the region’s growth forecast Tuesday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slid 0.78%.
CF PharmTech shares surged over 224% in their Hong Kong trading debut during early trade. CF PharmTech is a specialty pharmaceutical company, focused especially on respiratory diseases. It was trading 174% higher as of 3.24 a.m. ET.
CF PharmTech had raised around $78 million, with shares priced at HKD$14.75 apiece. PharmTech’s listing comes amid a resurgence in Hong Kong’s IPO market this year that has collectively raised about $14.1 billion in the first half of this year.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 closed 0.45% lower to 47,734.99, while the the Topix added 0.24% to end the trading day at 3,235.66. The Japanese yen weakened 0.38% to 152.48 against the greenback after sliding to the 150-level Monday.
Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 fell 0.1% to close at 8,947.6.
Mainland China and South Korean markets are closed for the holidays.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand trimmed its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 2.5%.
“Economic activity through the middle of 2025 was weak. In part, this reflects domestic constraints on the supply of goods and services in some industries, and the impact of global economic policy uncertainty,” the bank said in a media release. The New Zealand dollar weakened 0.9% to 0.5746 per dollar.
The Bank of Thailand is also set to release its policy decisions later in the day.
Overnight in the U.S., the three major averages closed lower. The S&P 500 struggled Tuesday, bogged down by a drop in Oracle shares as investors worry about the profitability of the artificial intelligence trade. Wall Street also looked for more developments out of Washington with the U.S. government shutdown in its second week.
The broad market index pulled back 0.38% to close at 6,714.59, snapping a 7-day winning streak, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.67% to finish at 22,788.36. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 91.99 points, or 0.2%, to end at 46,602.98.
— CNBC’s Pia Singh, Sean Conlon and Fred Imbert contributed to this report.
Source: CNBC