{"id":58681,"date":"2026-02-17T20:38:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T00:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/asian-markets-edge-higher-in-thin-holiday-trade-santos-announces-job-cuts-amid-slumping-profits\/58681\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T20:38:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T00:38:25","slug":"asian-markets-edge-higher-in-thin-holiday-trade-santos-announces-job-cuts-amid-slumping-profits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/asian-markets-edge-higher-in-thin-holiday-trade-santos-announces-job-cuts-amid-slumping-profits\/58681\/","title":{"rendered":"Asian Markets Edge Higher in Thin Holiday Trade; Santos Announces Job Cuts Amid Slumping Profits"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Santos Ltd. (<a href=\"\/stock\/STO\">STO<\/a>)<\/strong> to slash its workforce by <strong>10%<\/strong> after reporting a significant profit decline to <strong>$818 million<\/strong> due to weaker oil and LNG pricing.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/metal\/gold\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"gold price today\">Gold prices<\/a><\/strong> retreated below the <strong>$4,900<\/strong> threshold to <strong>$4,869<\/strong>, pressured by a strengthening U.S. dollar and low liquidity during the Lunar New Year holidays.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Copper<\/strong> prices slid <strong>1.5%<\/strong> as global inventories at major exchanges reached multi-year highs, signaling potential demand weakness in the tech sector.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Japan\u2019s 10-year government bond yield<\/strong> eased to <strong>2.115%<\/strong> following political stabilization after the recent general election, while the <strong>IMF<\/strong> remained neutral on potential currency interventions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Regional Markets and Central Bank Watch<\/h2>\n<p>Asian equity markets are positioned for a positive start despite a volatile lead-in from Wall Street. The <strong>S&amp;P\/ASX 200 (<a href=\"\/stock\/XJO\">XJO<\/a>)<\/strong> rose <strong>0.4%<\/strong> in early trade, even as investors navigated a choppy U.S. session characterized by mounting concerns over <strong>AI-related tech valuations<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Trading volumes remain thin across the region due to the <strong>Lunar New Year<\/strong> holidays in major markets like China. Investors are currently shifting their focus toward the <strong>Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ)<\/strong>, with a policy decision looming that could set the tone for regional interest rate expectations.<\/p>\n<h2>Energy Sector: Santos Restructures Amid Price Pressure<\/h2>\n<p>Australian energy giant <strong>Santos Ltd. (<a href=\"\/stock\/STO\">STO<\/a>)<\/strong> announced a major restructuring plan, including a <strong>10% reduction in its workforce<\/strong>. The move follows a fiscal report showing net profit fell to <strong>$818 million<\/strong>, a sharp decline attributed to a softening in global <strong>oil and LNG prices<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the staff cuts, the company remains committed to its growth strategy, targeting higher output from its <strong>Barossa<\/strong> and <strong>Pikka<\/strong> projects. <strong>WTI Crude<\/strong> was last seen trading at <strong>$62.24<\/strong>, reflecting ongoing pressure on energy commodities as global supply remains robust.<\/p>\n<h2>Commodities: Metals Retreat as Stockpiles Rise<\/h2>\n<p>Industrial and precious metals faced significant headwinds in the latest session. <strong>Copper<\/strong> prices fell <strong>1.5%<\/strong> as global stockpiles at the <strong>London Metal Exchange (LME)<\/strong> and other warehouses continued to climb, raising alarms about industrial demand.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gold<\/strong> also saw a pullback, dropping to <strong>$4,869<\/strong> per ounce. While demand in <strong>China and India<\/strong> remains fundamentally strong, the combination of a <strong>stronger U.S. dollar<\/strong> and holiday-thinned trading has forced the precious metal below the critical <strong>$4,900<\/strong> support level.<\/p>\n<h2>Fixed Income and Forex: Japan\u2019s Fiscal Outlook<\/h2>\n<p>In the fixed income market, <strong>Japan\u2019s 10-year yield<\/strong> eased by 1 basis point to <strong>2.115%<\/strong>. This movement comes as markets absorb the fiscal implications of <strong>Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi\u2019s<\/strong> recent election victory and her administration&#39;s stance on growth-oriented spending.<\/p>\n<p>Regarding the volatile <strong>Yen<\/strong>, the <strong>IMF Japan mission chief<\/strong> declined to speculate on future actions by Japanese authorities. This neutral stance comes as the <strong>USD-JPY<\/strong> pair remains in a sensitive zone, with traders closely watching for any signs of direct <strong>FX intervention<\/strong> to stabilize the currency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Santos Ltd. (STO) to slash its workforce by 10% after reporting a significant profit decline to $818 million [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[1684,1947,2001,5127,5220,5322,5407,6458,17310],"class_list":["post-58681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-gold","tag-oil","tag-copper","tag-japan","tag-lme","tag-markets","tag-rbnz","tag-asx-200","tag-santos-ltd-sto-stock-sto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}