Welcome to Markets Desk, here's what's moving.
Gold is rewriting the record books across Southeast Asia, with global demand surging eighty-four percent to two thousand one hundred seventy-five tons according to the World Gold Council. Prices hit an all-time high of five thousand five hundred eighty-nine dollars and thirty-eight cents per ounce in January, reshaping wealth rankings across the region as central banks and retail investors alike piled into the metal amid deepening geopolitical unease.
That appetite for safety makes sense when you look at equity volatility nearby. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index snapped a two-day winning streak Wednesday after surging more than three hundred seventy points, or roughly six percent. The index is now just above the six thousand two hundred twenty level, and traders are bracing for further losses Thursday as momentum fades.
On the commodity side, it was a split session in the agricultural space. Corn futures pushed five to seven cents higher into the close, with the national cash price settling near three dollars and ninety cents. Soybeans told a different story, fading six to eight cents off their session highs despite a USDA export sale announcement, with most contracts finishing only marginally in the green.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
