2025-06-18 07:35
MUMBAI, June 18 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee remained largely unchanged on Wednesday as pressure from elevated oil prices amid escalating Israel-Iran tensions offset mild foreign portfolio inflows, traders said. The rupee was at 86.3225 against the U.S. dollar as of 1:00 PM IST, down slightly from its close at 86.24 in the previous session. Sign up here. While the rupee opened weaker, it pared declines following dollar sales from at least two foreign banks, likely on behalf of custodial clients, a Mumbai-based bank trader said. Asian currencies were largely rangebound, save for the Philippine peso, that fell more than 1% with analysts pointing to vulnerability from elevated oil prices and a potential rate cut by the country's central bank. Oil prices have climbed more than 17% this month as tensions in the Middle East escalated. The Israel and Iran air war entered its sixth day on Wednesday with U.S. President Donald Trump calling for Iran's unconditional surrender. "A prolonged conflict in the Middle East could further hurt global risk sentiment," MUFG Bank said in a note, adding that geopolitical developments would continue to dominate FX moves across Asia. Asian equities were mostly lower on Wednesday reflecting the tepid risk appetite. India's benchmark equity indexes, the BSE Sensex (.BSESN) , opens new tab and Nifty 50 (.NSEI) , opens new tab, down about 0.3% each as well. Investors' focus is now on the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy decision, due later in the day. While the central bank is widely expected to maintain rates unchanged, investors will monitor changes to future policy rate projections and commentary from Chair Jerome Powell. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/rupee-little-changed-inflows-cushion-pressure-elevated-oil-prices-2025-06-18/
2025-06-18 07:30
LONDON, June 18 (Reuters) - The pound edged higher on Wednesday as investor nervousness over the escalating conflict in the Middle East weighed on the dollar and after UK data showed consumer inflation barely moved in May, undermining the case for prompt rate cuts. The Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday that consumer prices rose in annual terms by 3.4% in May, in line with forecasts and down from April's 3.5% rate. Sign up here. May's decline was the result of a drop in airfares, which leapt in April and the correction of a tax data error, while food prices shot up at the fastest rate in more than a year. Sterling was last up 0.26% at $1.3462 having edged higher from around $1.3443 before the data. The pound fell 1.09% against the dollar on Tuesday, its largest one-day decline since early April, as fighting between Israel and Iran raged for a fifth day, while the U.S. military moved fighter jets to the region. The increasing intensity of the conflict ignited a fresh wave of risk aversion among investors that drew flows into the U.S. currency. By Wednesday, the pound had recovered some of these losses, as investors briefly shifted their focus to the outlook for UK monetary policy. "Consumer price inflation hasn't budged in the UK, coming in at 3.4% for May. This was expected and although this is a slightly better scenario than another ramp up in price increases, it's unlikely to persuade more decision makers to vote for a rate cut tomorrow," said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown. One element that could give Bank of England policymakers, who will publish their decision on borrowing costs on Thursday, some comfort was a decline in the rate of service sector inflation. Services price inflation - a crucial metric for the BoE - cooled to 4.7% from 5.4% in April, matching the BoE's forecast for May. A Reuters poll had pointed to a reading of 4.8%. Money markets show traders do not expect the BoE to cut UK rates until at least September, with the possibility of one more quarter-point cut by December. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/sterling-edges-up-after-uk-data-shows-jump-food-inflation-2025-06-18/
2025-06-18 07:22
SEOUL, June 18 (Reuters) - South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries (010140.KS) , opens new tab said on Wednesday that two orders from Russia's Zvezda worth a total of 4.85 trillion won ($3.54 billion) for icebreaker ships were cancelled due to "illegal termination by the shipowner". Samsung Heavy said in regulatory filings that in June 2024, Zvezda shipyard unilaterally informed the South Korean company of the contract termination and insisted on the return of advance payments. Sign up here. In July, Samsung filed an arbitration request with the Singapore arbitration court to affirm the illegality of the termination, while engaging in negotiations with Zvezda. However, as the war between Russia and Ukraine dragged on, uncertainties over contract execution and business increased, and Samsung Heavy decided to terminate the contract and claim damages to protect its rights, it said. The orders were to supply parts and blocks for 10 icebreaker LNG carriers and 7 icebreaker shuttle tankers, won in 2020 and 2021. ($1 = 1,370.3800 won) https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/samsung-heavy-says-354-billion-icebreaker-orders-russias-zvezda-cancelled-2025-06-18/
2025-06-18 07:17
DUBAI, June 18 (Reuters) - The UAE's energy ministry said a collision between two oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz was likely caused by a navigational misjudgement by one of the vessels. In a statement on Wednesday, it cited preliminary information and did not draw any link with an upsurge in electronic interference during the conflict between Iran and Israel. Sign up here. The Adalynn and Front Eagle oil tankers collided and caught fire on Tuesday 24 nautical miles off the coast of the UAE in the Sea of Oman. No injuries to the crew or any spillage were reported. After Iran and Israel began firing missiles at each other last week, interference has disrupted navigation systems near the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway between Iran and Oman that handles about a fifth of the world's seaborne oil. Tehran has not commented on Tuesday's collision or reports of electronic interference. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/collision-between-two-ships-sea-oman-caused-by-navigational-error-uae-energy-2025-06-18/
2025-06-18 07:13
Population growth and the rapid expansion of data centres are driving up electricity needs Data centres alone are expected to more than double their power demand globally by 2030 KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 (Reuters) - Energy majors are pouring money into gas exploration and production in Malaysia and Indonesia to meet rising power demand from growing populations and a proliferation of data centres in the region. The wave of investments come as European majors pivot back to more profitable conventional fuels as countries embark on different energy transition paths, while Southeast Asian governments want more affordable local gas supplies to drive economic growth and improve energy security. Sign up here. At the Energy Asia conference in Kuala Lumpur this week, Shell (SHEL.L) , opens new tab committed to increasing its investments in Malaysia by 9 billion ringgit ($2.12 billion) over the next two to three years, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Tuesday. "Just between now and 2035, gas production in Southeast Asia is expected to drop by around 20% ... and that needs to be backfilled," Shell CEO Wael Sawan told the conference. "And the most viable backfill is, of course, LNG because the infrastructure is already gas based." On Monday, French major TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) , opens new tab acquired further stakes in Malaysian gas assets from state energy firm Petronas (IPO-PETO.KL) , opens new tab. "This is where the population is growing I would say. So this is where we need more energy," CEO Patrick Pouyanne said. Italian major Eni (ENI.MI) , opens new tab and Petronas are pressing ahead with a planned joint venture to develop gas assets in Indonesia and Malaysia with a deal expected to be signed by the end of this year. Japan's top explorer Inpex has returned to Malaysia and is working on exploring resources in six blocks offshore Sarawak and Sabah, on top of developing Indonesia's Abadi LNG project, CEO Takayuki Ueda told Reuters. "The demand for natural gas, especially LNG, will actually be increasing over a longer time after 2040, maybe up to 2050," he said. "Given the current, very uncertain and unpredictable geopolitical situation, one of the strategies that we are now taking is local production for local consumption," he added. ConocoPhillips (COP.N) , opens new tab CEO Ryan Lance told local media that the U.S. major plans to invest in Sabah after it dropped the WL4-00 project in Sarawak. Natural gas or LNG is seen as the fuel for the region to replace coal and reduce emissions, while gas-fired power plants can also provide a stable power source for data centres. Petronas CEO Tengku Muhammad Taufik Tengku Aziz said the firm is working to serve a surge in power demand from data centres which is expected to more than double to 945 terawatt hours globally by 2030. "The entire energy systems at our disposal are now working to serve this surge in demand," he said. S&P Global vice chairman Daniel Yergin said gas now has a much bigger profile than it did a couple years ago. "Countries are not going to be able to generate the electricity they need for growth and for data centres without a bigger role for natural gas," he added. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/energy-majors-lock-onto-southeast-asia-race-more-gas-ai-power-demand-2025-06-18/
2025-06-18 07:01
SEOUL, June 18 (Reuters) - South Korea's central bank governor said on Wednesday he was not against issuing won-denominated stablecoins but had concerns about managing capital flows. "Issuing won-based stablecoin could make it easier to exchange them with dollar stablecoin rather than working to reduce use of dollar stablecoin. That in turn could increase demand for dollar stablecoin and make it difficult for us to manage forex," Rhee Chang-yong told a press conference in Seoul. Sign up here. Stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a constant value – typically pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar – are widely used by crypto traders to move funds between tokens, and are starting to be adopted by more and more companies. Regulators in many countries are skeptical about cryptocurrencies as they are seen as speculative and as competitors to national currencies. Rhee's comments come as South Korea's left-leaning President, Lee Jae Myung, is seen delivering on his election pledge to allow companies to issue won-based stablecoins. The ruling Democratic Party proposed earlier this month the Digital Asset Basic Act, designed to set up regulatory infrastructure needed to help local companies issue won-denominated stablecoins. President Lee appointed a former crypto firm chief, Kim Yong-beom, as his chief policy officer in his first week in office, further boosting speculation that the government would take action to allow issuance of stablecoins backed by the Korean won. Kim has previously served as vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission before becoming chief executive of Hashed Open Research, a think tank affiliated with crypto venture capital firm Hashed Ventures Inc. Governor Rhee has previously told reporters that allowing stablecoins to be issued by local companies, rather than the central bank, could significantly undermine the effectiveness of monetary policy and capital flow control. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/bok-chief-says-he-is-not-against-won-based-stablecoins-has-forex-concerns-2025-06-18/
