Oil slips on oversupply worries.
Oil prices dipped in Asian trade on Tuesday as oversupply concerns outweighed uncertainty over the impact of U.S. sanctions on Russian oil majors Rosneft and Lukoil and optimism over progress toward reopening the U.S. government.
Brent crude futures fell 27 cents, or 0.4%, to $63.79 a barrel by 0717 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $59.86 a barrel, down 27 cents or 0.5%.
Both benchmarks gained around 40 cents in the previous session.
The longest government shutdown in U.S. history could end this week after the Senate approved a compromise that would restore federal funding. The deal now goes to the House of Representatives, where Speaker Mike Johnson has said he would like to pass it as soon as Wednesday.
While progress toward reopening the government has boosted markets broadly, worries about crude oversupply are keeping a lid on oil prices.
Yen slips to 9-month low.
The safe-haven yen hit its lowest since February on Tuesday while riskier currencies were firm against the dollar as traders anticipated an end to the long U.S. government shutdown.
It now heads to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson has said he would like to pass it as soon as Wednesday and send it on to President Donald Trump to sign into law.
MOOD DRIVES MOVES
A gain of about 0.7% for the Australian dollar to $0.6536 and a drop in the yen have been the biggest moves since a breakthrough Senate vote on Sunday.
“Currencies moved in tandem with the risk-on sentiment. So some of the risk-sensitive currencies like the Aussie, they have benefited from, while the safe-haven currencies like the yen have softened a bit,” said Bank of Singapore strategist Moh Siong Sim.
The Aussie handed back some of its rise to hover at $0.6520 in the Asia afternoon.
The unloved yen remained under pressure, however, as Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has called for policymakers to go slow on interest rate hikes at the same time as U.S. policymakers have turned cautious on further cuts.
Sony raises profit forecast by 8%.
Sony raised its operating profit forecast for the year ending March 2026 by 8% to 1.43 trillion yen ($9.5 billion) on Tuesday, citing a smaller-than-expected impact from U.S. tariffs and the strength of its entertainment and chips businesses.
Operating profit in the July-September quarter climbed 10% to 429 billion yen after its music unit, which includes anime, and chips businesses recorded higher sales.
Sony cited the success of animated movie “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba null Castle” as a contributor.
The Japanese conglomerate was once best known for household electronics but has become an entertainment powerhouse and is banking on the growth of anime.
Profit at Sony’s games business fell in the second quarter as the company booked impairment losses related to the “Destiny 2” video game.
User engagement has not met the expectations Sony had when it bought Bungie, a studio, Chief Financial Officer Lin Tao said at a briefing.
Sony sold 3.9 million units of its PlayStation 5, which launched in 2020, during the quarter in a slight increase from the same period a year earlier.
“We plan to expand the install base during the year-end sales season while continuing to balance that expansion with the profitability of the entire segment,” Tao said.
Take-Two Interactive said last week it has delayed the release of “Grand Theft Auto VI” for a second time to November next year.
Important Note: The information found on Ausprime platform is intended only to be informative, is not advice nor a recommendation, nor research, or a record of our trading prices, or an offer of, or solicitation for a transaction in any financial instrument and thus should not be treated as such. The information provided does not include any specific investment objectives, financial situation and needs of any specific person who may receive it. The past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance and/or results. Past Performance or Forward-looking scenarios are not a guarantee of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking or past performance statement
