Risk-off sentiment resurfaces in global markets following US airstrikes on Iran. US stock futures extend losses. Asian stocks show mixed reactions with Hong Kong as an outlier.
Risk-off in equities, US strength in AUD, NZD, JPY, and WTI holding on to gains
Risk-off activities triggered by an uptick in geopolitical risk premiums have taken shape in today’s Asia session, reinforced by US President Trump’s U-turn over the weekend, when he authorised a US airstrike to bomb three Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities and forgo his earlier “two-week grace period” for diplomacy.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 E-mini futures are extending their losses in today’s Asian mid-session by -0.3% and -0.4% from last Friday’s “Triple Witching” options expiration’s weak closing performances.
Also read: Singapore strengthens trading safety. Are your funds safe? Why choose OANDA
Also, most Asian benchmark stock indices are recording intraday losses at this time of writing, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropping by -0.2%, Singapore’s Straits Times Index shedding -0.4%. The outlier for today is the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index, which bucked against the risk-off trend, up by an intraday gain of 0.2%, likely due to an anticipation of frontloading of more fiscal and monetary expansionary policies that may be announced by the end of the four-day China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee meeting, starting on Tuesday, 24 June.
The US dollar rose modestly in the aftermath of the US bombings on Iranian nuclear enrichment sites; the US Dollar Index staged an intraday gain of just 0.3%.
Interestingly, high beta currencies like the Aussie and Kiwi dollars, which have a strong direct correlation with risk-off movements in equities, are part of the worst-performing currencies against the US dollar, together with the Japanese yen. The USD/JPY rallied by 0.7%, and the AUD/USD and NZD/USD added 0.7% on an intraday basis in today’s Asian session.
WTI crude oil trimmed its early opening gapped up gain of 4.1% to 0.7% to US$75.86/barrel at this time of writing, but it is still holding above the gap support of US$75.40. Meanwhile, Gold (XAU/USD) erased its initial opening intraday gain of 0.6% to record an intraday loss of -0.6%, once again challenging its 20-day moving average at US$3,350 that has been acting as an intermediate support since 21 May 2025.
The latest intraday technical analysis on US Wall Street 30, US Nas 100, US SPX 500, Hong Kong 33, Japan 225, Germany 30, EUR/USD, GBP/USD, AUD/USD, USD/JPY, Gold (XAU/USD), and West Texas Oil can be found in our YouTube video above.
Also read: What is leveraged FX trading – the main attractions and key risks
