Ahead of U.S. jobs data that may affect Federal Reserve plans for additional interest rate hikes to curb soaring inflation, Asian stock markets were neutral on Friday. Tokyo and Hong Kong withdrew while Shanghai and Seoul moved forward. Over $1.50 per barrel extra was paid for oil. In order to gauge how the economy is responding to four previous hikes to reduce inflation, which is at a four-decade high, investors were looking forward to U.S. statistics on hiring in August. A positive number would support Fed policymakers' claims that higher interest rates are necessary to restrain economic growth and relieve pressure on consumer prices to rise. A rate hike of up to 0.75 percentage points at this month's Fed meeting, according to IG's Yeap Jun Rong, would "likely reinforce further lean towards" the finding that more than 300,000 jobs were gained in August. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo fell 0.2% to 27,604.37, while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.1% to 3,189.09. Ho...

(Reuters) - The euro briefly sank below parity versus the Swiss franc for the first time in seven years on Monday and held at a  22-month   low  versus the dollar as soaring oil prices stoked fears of a  stagflationary  shock that could hammer Europe. The conflict in Ukraine and harsh international  sanctions  on Moscow have sent Russian assets  tumbling  while prices of the country's exports such as precious  metals, oil, and gas  have soared at a time when the global economy was already grappling with inflationary pressures. Europe is the most vulnerable as it imports as much as  40%  of its natural gas consumption from Russia and the single currency has become increasingly  correlated  with oil prices --  the higher oil climbs, the more the euro falls  as investors fret about higher inflation and the blow to the economy. 🎩 Top THREE  Award-Winning   Brokers  in 2022 🎩 LiteFinance ...

Investing.com – The dollar was down on Tuesday morning in Asia, while the  euro was stuck  near a 22-month low. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to dim  Europe’s economic  outlook, but a week-long rally in commodity currencies showed signs of a pause. The U.S. Dollar Index Futures that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies edged down  0.16% to 99.135  by 10:30 PM ET (3:30 AM GMT). The  USD/JPY  pair edged up  0.13% to 115.44 . Japanese data from earlier in the day showed the largest current account deficit since the start of 2014, with the current account at  JPR1.189 trillion  ( $10.33  billion) and the adjusted current account at  JPY0.19 trillion  in January 2022. 🎩 Top THREE  Award-Winning   Brokers  in 2022 🎩 LiteFinance  |  IC Markets  |  Avatrade The AUD/USD pair inched up  0.10% to 0.7324 , with Australia’s National Australia Bank business co...

  BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping may not have been able to stop   Nancy Pelosi's visit  to Taiwan, but he ordered his country's military to rehearse a much more aggressive step: a blockade crucial to taking the island by force, security experts say. China's military planners have long discussed a blockade of Taiwan, but until now most likely saw practicing such a move as too provocative, security experts say. But after U.S. House Speaker Pelosi's visit, China's military for the first time fired missiles over Taipei, flew waves of drones over Taiwan's offshore islands, sailed warships across the median line of the Taiwan Strait and surrounded the self-ruled island in what Taiwan's military said amounted to a practice "blockade." 🎩 Top THREE  Award-Winning   Brokers  in 2022 🎩 LiteFinance  |  IC Markets  |  Avatrade "These first actions in effect changed the status quo of Taiwan's security," said  Li Mingjiang , a...

  Australian Bitcoin miner  Iris Energy  said it had increased its hash rate to more than 2.3 exahashes per second following the completion of phase two of its operations in Mackenzie, Canada. In a Monday announcement, Iris Energy said it had brought 41 megawatts of operating capacity in the British Columbia municipality online roughly two months ahead of schedule, adding 1.5 EH/s to its existing hash rate. In addition, the  Bitcoin  (BTC) miner expects to bring another 50 MW online in Prince George by the end of the third quarter of 2022, increasing its operating capacity to 3.7 EH/s. 🎩 Top THREE  Award-Winning   Brokers  in 2022 🎩 LiteFinance  |  IC Markets  |  Avatrade Iris Energy co-founder and co-CEO  Daniel Roberts  said the firm had energized the facility on schedule “despite the current market backdrop and ongoing international supply chain challenges.” The firm planned to deploy additional miners in August...

(Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Sunday will seek to comfort a Texas town ripped apart by the largest U.S. school shooting in a decade amid lingering questions about whether law enforcement's failure to act swiftly contributed to the death toll. Biden’s familiar role as comforter-in-chief will be complicated by local anger over a decision by law enforcement in Uvalde, Texas, to allow the shooter to remain in a classroom for nearly an hour while officers waited in the hallway and children in the room made panicked 911 calls for help. Investigators on Saturday were seeking to determine how critical mistakes were made in the response to the shooting that left 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School dead, and some are calling on the FBI to look into police actions. Biden is expected to visit a memorial erected at the school and meet with victims' families. "He has to stay focused on the pain and grief of the families and the community and understand that all ...

(Reuters) - More airlines are likely to avoid Ukraine's airspace amid insurance issues and a decision by leading European carriers to stop overflights after a  U.S.  warning that Russia could invade at any time, a flight  operations  advisory firm said on Monday.   Dutch airline KLM said it would halt flights to Ukraine and through the country's  airspace , while Germany's Lufthansa said it was considering a  suspension . British Airways (BA) flights between London and Asia on Monday appeared to be  avoiding  the airspace, according to Reuter's monitoring of flight tracking service FlightRadar24.   A BA pilot on Sunday said on Twitter ( NYSE: TWTR ) that there was a longer flight time for freighter service from London to Bangkok because of " current geopolitics. " BA did not respond immediately to a request for comment.   " My guess would be that Ukraine will become unavailable pretty soon if what we've seen over the weekend crysta...