2025-08-20 08:01

NEW DELHI, Aug 20 (Reuters) - India's state-run refiners Indian Oil (IOC.NS) , opens new tab and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL.NS) , opens new tab have bought Russian oil for September and October delivery, resuming purchases after discounts widened, two company officials aware of the matter said on Wednesday. The resumption in Russian oil imports by Indian state refiners could reduce supplies for top buyer China which had stepped up purchases during their absence. Sign up here. The refiners halted purchases in July due to narrower discounts and after India was criticised by Washington for its purchases of Russian oil. President Donald Trump also threatened an additional 25% levy on Indian goods, effective August 27, to penalize New Delhi for its continued buying of the oil. Discounts for Russian flagship Urals crude have widened to about $3 per barrel, making the oil attractive for Indian refiners, while China has stepped up purchases, the officials said. In addition to Urals, IOC has also bought other Russian crude oil grades including Varandey and Siberian Light, they said. Indian companies do not comment on their crude imports. On Monday, IOC, the country's top refiner, told analysts that it would continue to buy Russian oil depending on economics. In recent weeks, Chinese refineries bought 15 cargoes of Russian oil for October and November delivery, according to two analysts and one trader. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/indian-oil-bpcl-resume-buying-russian-oil-september-sources-say-2025-08-20/

2025-08-20 07:58

Talks 'going in the right direction', CEO says Rail upgrade key to clean energy mineral logistics Consortium targets 1.5 million tons annual volumes Aug 20 (Reuters) - Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR) aims to finalise by the end of this year a $533 million loan deal with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) that is vital for the upgrade of its Angolan concession, LAR's CEO told Reuters. The U.S. development lender pledged the loan in 2024 to support the revamp of 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) of railways and provide a quick route to haul minerals that are critical to the global shift to cleaner energy. Sign up here. Angola in 2022 handed LAR, a consortium of Trafigura, Mota-Engil and Vecturis SA, a 30-year concession to operate the rail link and provide a quick route for copper and cobalt exports from the Democratic Republic of Congo through the Lobito port on the Atlantic coast. The company's newly appointed CEO Nicholas Fournier said the U.S funding was close to being concluded, despite concerns triggered by President Donald Trump's reversal of Biden-era climate and energy policies. "There will be no change. I know lots of people try to put this as a geopolitical thing, but it's really a commercial transaction we are doing," Fournier told Reuters in an interview. "There is an army of lawyers on both sides discussing the last comma and everything, so it's going in the direction. We're hoping to have this completed before the end of the year," he added. Fournier said LAR expected volumes on the Lobito line to double following ongoing upgrade work funded by the consortium partners, which have committed $555 million in investment. "We want in 2026 to double, doing 40,000 tons a month, one way and 40,000 tons the other way. And then continuing to be able to do 1.5 million tons a year during this decade," he said. LAR's cargo trains move mainly copper and cobalt to the Lobito port for export markets. They also haul sulphur mostly to DRC mines as well as agricultural commodities and industrial products from the port. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/trafigura-led-consortium-aims-finalise-us-loan-deal-by-end-2025-2025-08-20/

2025-08-20 07:50

TOKYO, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Japan's tourism boom continued in July, with record arrivals for the month despite a steep drop in visitors from Hong Kong due to typhoon-related flight disruption and jitters about possible earthquakes, the tourism board said on Wednesday. Arrivals of foreign visitors for business and leisure reached 3.43 million, a 4.4% increase from the same month last year and the highest number for any July, the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) said. Sign up here. During the month, the number of visitors from Hong Kong fell 36.9% and arrivals from South Korea dropped 10.4%, which contributed to the slowest monthly growth in arrivals so far this year, the data showed. Contributing factors included typhoon-related flight disruptions impacting Hong Kong and social media chatter over recent earthquakes, which affected travel sentiment from both markets, according to the JNTO. A persistently weak yen, however, continued to fuel growth from other key markets, offsetting some of the decline. Visitors from mainland China jumped 25.5%, while arrivals from the U.S. rose by 10.3%. For the first seven months of 2025, Japan has welcomed 24.9 million tourists, up 18.4% from the same period in 2024. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/japan-tourism-arrivals-hit-july-record-despite-weather-disruption-quake-fears-2025-08-20/

2025-08-20 07:41

JAKARTA, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Indonesia's central bank cut interest rates in a surprise move on Wednesday, stepping up support for Southeast Asia's largest economy against a backdrop of global uncertainties. Bank Indonesia (BI) trimmed the benchmark 7-day reverse repurchase rate (IDCBRR=ECI) , opens new tab by 25 basis points to 5.00%, its fifth rate cut since September taking the rate to its lowest level since late 2022. Sign up here. Only five of 29 economists polled by Reuters had expected a cut on Wednesday. The rest expected rates to be held steady. The overnight deposit (IDCBID=ECI) , opens new tab and lending (IDCBIL=ECI) , opens new tab rates were also cut by the same amount to 4.25% and 5.75%, respectively. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/indonesias-central-bank-surprises-with-rate-cut-2025-08-20/

2025-08-20 07:21

Shares track tech-led decline on Wall Street UK consumer price inflation 3.8% in 12 months to July Trump's growing influence over tech companies raises concerns Eyes on Jackson Hole symposium, Powell's speech SINGAPORE, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Global share markets came under pressure on Wednesday after a tech-led selloff on Wall Street, while the dollar gained some ground ahead of a key meeting of central bankers later in the week. The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) , opens new tab fell 0.26%, with German shares (.GDAXI) , opens new tab sliding 0.7%. Sign up here. In Britain, the FTSE 100 (.FTSE) , opens new tab eased 0.11%, after data on Wednesday showed nationwide inflation hit its highest in 18 months in July. The move lower in European markets mirrored a dim day for their Asian counterparts earlier in the day, with tech-heavy indexes in Taiwan (.TWII) , opens new tab and South Korea (.KS11) , opens new tab among the biggest losers. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) , opens new tab lost 0.74%. While there was no immediate trigger behind the selloff in technology stocks, analysts pointed to a confluence of factors, including President Donald Trump's growing influence over the sector and a general risk-off mood. "What we're seeing is a relatively broad momentum unwind, probably triggered by some de-risking ahead of Powell's remarks at Jackson Hole on Friday," said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is looking into the government taking equity stakes in Intel (INTC.O) , opens new tab as well as other chip companies in exchange for grants under the CHIPS Act that was meant to spur factory-building around the country, sources told Reuters. The move comes on the back of other unusual deals Washington has recently struck with U.S. companies, including allowing AI chip giant Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab to sell its H20 chips to China in exchange for the U.S. government receiving 15% of the revenue from those sales. "These developments signal that the U.S. government is heading in a concerning and more interventionist direction," said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG. In commodities, oil prices trimmed losses from the previous session, as investors awaited the next steps in talks to end Russia's war on Ukraine, with uncertainty over whether oil sanctions might be eased or tightened. While a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and a group of European allies over the Russia-Ukraine war concluded without much fanfare, Trump said the United States would help guarantee Ukraine's security in any deal to end Russia's war there. He later said on Tuesday that the United States might provide air support to Ukraine, while ruling out putting U.S. troops on the ground. "The U.S. is not categorically underwriting anything, any security for Ukraine, even if they're open to provide some, because we don't know the conditions under which they will. So there's quite a bit of risk left out there," said Vishnu Varathan, head of macro research for Asia ex-Japan at Mizuho. Brent crude futures were last up 0.8% at $66.32 a barrel, while U.S. crude tacked on 0.72% to $62.80 per barrel. AWAITING JACKSON HOLE All eyes are now on the Kansas City Federal Reserve's August 21-23 Jackson Hole symposium, where Fed Chair Jerome Powell is due to speak on the economic outlook and the central bank's policy framework on Friday. Focus will be on what Powell says about the near-term outlook for rates, with traders almost fully pricing in a rate cut next month. "Given the apparent tensions between U.S. CPI and PPI data, (it) does come across as ... premature to declare one way or the other. And most importantly, given this kind of dilemma embedded within the data, it is hard to decipher whether the Fed would take or would emphasise the risks that start to mount on the job side of the equation or (the) need to sit firm," said Mizuho's Varathan. Ahead of the gathering, the dollar firmed slightly, pushing the euro down 0.06% to $1.1639. Sterling rose a touch after the release of the UK inflation data and was last little changed at $1.3494. The New Zealand dollar tumbled more than 1% after its central bank cut rates as expected and flagged further reductions in coming months as policymakers warned of domestic and global headwinds to growth. The kiwi last bought $0.5829. Elsewhere, spot gold rose 0.29% to $3,324.89 an ounce. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/global-markets-wrapup-3-2025-08-20/

2025-08-20 07:19

OSLO, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Norway's combined oil and gas production exceeded an official forecast by 3.9% in July, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) said on Wednesday. Norway is Europe's largest supplier of natural gas and a major producer of oil, but output varies from month to month depending on maintenance needs and other stoppages at more than 90 offshore fields. Sign up here. Overall oil, condensate, natural gas liquids and gas output stood at 0.672 million standard cubic metres per day, equivalent to 4.23 million barrels of oil equivalent, a decrease of 2.9% year-on-year. Natural gas production in July fell to 328.3 million cubic metres (mcm) per day from 360.7 mcm a year earlier, but exceeded a forecast of 321.2 mcm by 2.2%, the regulator said on its website. Crude oil output rose to 1.96 million barrels per day (bpd) in July from 1.83 million bpd in the same month last year, and came in above a forecast of 1.81 million bpd, NOD's preliminary data showed. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/norway-pumped-more-oil-gas-than-forecast-july-2025-08-20/