Asia midday: Asian stocks rise on AI optimism, US-EU trade hopes, EUR/GBP (Chart of the day) bullish trend intact as ECB looms

[Redator]

S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 E-mini futures continued to edge higher in Asia’s Thursday session, up 0.1% and 0.3% respectively. Gains were supported by upbeat sentiment from Wednesday’s US session, despite mixed Q2 results from Tesla and Alphabet. Investor optimism was further boosted by President Trump’s new executive orders to bolster US artificial intelligence capabilities and improve prospects for a US-EU trade agreement.

Tesla drops on earnings miss, while Alphabet rises on AI demand

Tesla shares tumbled 4.4% in after-hours trading as Q2 earnings fell short of expectations ($0.40 EPS vs. $0.48 consensus). CEO Elon Musk’s cautious outlook—citing the phase-out of EV incentives and slow driverless tech deployment—added to the negative sentiment. In contrast, Alphabet shares rose 1.7% after beating earnings forecasts ($2.31 EPS vs. $2.16), buoyed by strong AI-driven sales growth.

US stocks rally to fresh highs, led by Dow and tech giants

The S&P 500 climbed 0.8% to a new all-time high, while the Nasdaq 100 gained 0.4%, led by Nvidia (+2.3%). The Dow Jones Industrial Average outperformed with a 1.1% jump to 45,010—just shy of its record high from December 2024. All major US indices remain in strong short-to-medium-term uptrends.

Asia markets track Wall Street gains as US-EU Trade talks advance

Asia-Pacific equities mirrored the US rally amid growing optimism that the 1 August US-EU trade deadline may yield a breakthrough. Media reports suggest progress toward a 15% tariff on most EU imports, replacing prior sticking points in negotiations.

Nikkei nears record high; STI and Hang Seng extend gains

Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 1.7% to 41,870, closing in on its all-time high of 42,427. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.4%, marking its fifth straight daily gain. Meanwhile, Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.8%, poised to log a 14th consecutive record close,up 11% from its 23 June low.

Japanese yen leads FX moves ahead of ECB, Gold slides toward support

The US dollar weakened further during Asia hours, with the Japanese yen outperforming major peers, gaining 0.4%. The Australian dollar also advanced by 0.3%.

The euro and sterling traded almost unchanged from Wednesday’s US session close as traders await the European Central Bank (ECB) monetary policy decision out later today, where the consensus has priced in no rate cut to maintain its key deposit rate at 2% after eight consecutive cuts.

ECB President Lagarde’s press conference will be pivotal as market participants look out for more hints to indicate ECB is at the end of its interest rate cut cycle. If such hawkish hold guidance materialises, the EUR/USD is likely to have more impetus to maintain its recent minor short-term bullish uptrend phase that kickstarted last Wednesday, 17 July.

Meanwhile, gold (XAU/USD) extended its decline, shedding 0.3% intraday after a 1.3% drop yesterday. The precious metal is now nearing a key short-term support at US$3,260, where buyers may return.

Economic data releases

Fig 1: Key data for today’s Asia mid-session (Source: MarketPulse)

Chart of the day – EUR/GBP looks set to resume its bullish move as ECB looms

Fig 2: EUR/GBP minor & medium-term trends as of 24 July 2025 (Source: TradingView)

The recent slide of 58 pips seen on the EUR/GBP cross pair from its 15 July swing high area of 0.8700 has hit a key inflection point for the bulls to resume a potential bullish impulsive up move sequence with its short-term minor uptrend phase in place since 27 June 2025 low.

Firstly, the price action of EUR/GBP has staged a bounce right above the lower boundary of its medium-term ascending channel from 29 May 2025 low, and its rising 20-day moving average.

Secondly, the hourly RSI momentum indicator has formed a “higher low” after it hit a recent oversold reading on 23 July, which suggests a potential short-term bullish momentum revival.

Watch the 0.8640 short-term key pivotal support, and a clearance above 0.8700 increases the odds of a fresh bullish impulsive up move sequence to see the next intermediate resistances coming in at 0.8740/8770 and 0.8800 (see Fig 2).

However, a break below 0.8640 invalidates the bullish scenario for a minor corrective decline to expose the next intermediate supports at 0.8600 and 0.8540 (also the 50-day moving average).

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