Monetary History of Byzantium   Heraclius 610-641 Heraclius was born around 575AD and became emperor in 610 ruling until February 11, 641AD. It was Heraclius who actually mad Greek the official Eastern Roman Empire’s language. His rise to power actually began in 608AD, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, who was the […]

Monetary History of Byzantium   THEODORE I (1204-1222AD) Emperor of Nicaea   Theodore I Comnenus-Lascaris (1208-1222) was the first Emperor of Nicaea, which was to the south of Constantinople in modern-day Turkey. Theodore was born in ca. 1174, to the Laskaris, a noble Byzantine family of Constantinople. He was the son of Manuel Laskaris (b. c. […]

Rumours that US President Donald Trump favours additional tariffs on China, has hit Asian stocks again, as we enter the long weekend liquidation. Weakness seems to be growing for emerging markets across the globe and that is having a knock-on effect on core markets. The Yen has blipped again, into a 110 handle, as the […]

Despite a positive opening in the Nikkei, that sadly was not to last and eventually finished unchanged on the day. Exporters were the initial driver of the strength on the back of a weaker Yen (high 111’s), however, a lack of any follow-through and lower peripheral markets, sentiment just drifted with the days volume. Shanghai […]

Similar to yesterdays session, many had expected a stronger Asian opening than we saw, following fresh historic highs, but sentiment failed to follow through. Even though core indices opened stronger, through the day they tended to decline through the lack of volume and commitment. The Hang Seng did perform better than Shanghai but by the […]

New fresh highs established in the US helped drive sentiment in todays Asian trading. However, this was not to last and most core indices tended to drift lower for the remainder of the day. The Shanghai index actually spent much of its day trading in negative territory. The PBOC also set mid point for the […]

The PBOC change in technical methodology for pricing Yuan was the reason for the stock rally in Asia this morning and also responding to Powell’s comments. It could be political, but the move does look to be underpinning the Yuan, for the moment, as we head towards the next round of Trade Talks. Slowing the […]

No conclusion, as the US/China trade talks finish, a new PM in Australia, unchanged +0.7% release for Japanese inflation and a rally in oil and gold as the USD turned. All this ahead of Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole speech and still no volatility. This all goes to show that traditional summer months are difficult to […]

QUESTION: Marty, Socrates has done a fantastic job on platinum. It is just so refreshing to have an analysis that is not biased and always saying buy. It looks like platinum is just a precursor to gold. There is an oversupply and with South Africa in turmoil politically on top of its currency in the […]

With core China and the Hang Seng indices trading near their 52week lows, this is the direct opposite to core US indices that are making historic highs! Todays price action almost seemed typical of what we have seen over this past year. US markets are treading water at their highs, whilst Shanghai, Hang Seng, STI […]