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In our Market Monday insights, Prosperity Investment Management examines the latest developments across the globe's biggest financial markets - providing you with all the latest information you need to know.
Chinese stocks drop after zero-Covid protests add to the uncertainty.
Global stocks and oil prices dropped last week after protests in China against the government’s Covid-19 policies weighed down on market sentiment and added to uncertainty about the outlook for the world’s second-largest economy.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng China Enterprises index dropped as much as 4.5 per cent before pulling back to 1.5 per cent.
The decline on China’s CSI 300 index of Shanghai and Shenzhen listed shares was as great as 2.8 per cent before it was trimmed to about 1.1 per cent.
Europe’s regional Stoxx 600 slid 0.8 per cent in mid-morning trading on Monday, while London’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.5 per cent. The S&P 500 was set to shed 0.9 per cent.
Oil dropped sharply, the international benchmark, down 2.8 per cent to trade at $81.31 a barrel, and US marker West Texas Intermediate shedding 2.8 per cent to hit $74.12.
The unrest weighed down on equities elsewhere in Asia, with Japan’s benchmark Topix down 0.7 per cent, while South Korea’s Kospi and Taiwan’s Taiex were both off 1.5 per cent
Gold at more than one-week high as dollar slips
Gold prices rose last week due to the weakened US dollar and ongoing protests in several Chinese cities about the country’s strict Covid-19 restrictions.
Spot gold was down 0.4% at $1,749.00 per ounce, as of 0314 GMT. U.S. gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,749.90.
The dollar index was up 0.4%, making the greenback-priced bullion more expensive for buyers holding other currencies.
Spot silver also slipped 1.8% to $21.21, platinum fell 0.3% to $978.00 and palladium declined 0.3% to $1,846.94.
UK house-buying demand drops 44% in wake of ‘mini-Budget
Housing demand in the UK has almost halved in the wake of Liz Truss’s September “mini” Budget.
Home hunters respond to higher mortgage rates by scrapping plans to buy and turn to the rental market instead.
Demand is down 44 per cent since the day of the “mini” Budget, with the sharpest falls in south-east England and the West Midlands.
Plummeting demand has raised expectations that prices will fall next year, with the Office for Budget Responsibility now forecasting a 9 per cent drop.
