2025-05-22 10:15
MUMBAI, May 22 (Reuters) - (This May 22 story has been refiled to say 'BofA Global Research' instead of 'BofA Research' in paragraph 7) The Indian rupee declined to a more-than-one-month low on Thursday, pressured by likely outflows from local equities and the breach of a key technical support level that triggered stop-losses on speculative long bets. Sign up here. The South Asian currency closed at 86.0025 against the U.S. dollar, down 0.4% on the day. It fell past a key support level of 85.80 to hit a trough of 86.1025 during the session, its lowest since April 11. Dollar bids from foreign banks and one large state-run lender, likely on behalf of their clients, also weighed on the rupee, traders said. India's benchmark equity indexes, the BSE Sensex (.BSESN) , opens new tab and Nifty 50 (.NSEI) , opens new tab closed lower by around 0.8% each on the day, tracking losses in global peers. An uptick in the dollar index also weighed on the currency and its regional peers in the afternoon session. The rupee is down about 1.5% over May so far, lagging most regional peers. Traders say that despite broad weakness in the dollar, strong demand from local companies and foreign banks for the greenback has weighed on the rupee. In the medium-term though, BofA Global Research expects the rupee to track the dollar's weakness and get support from improving capital inflows and trade engagement. The firm has joined peers in turning more bullish on the currency. Uncertainty about U.S. trade policies combined with worries over the U.S. fiscal outlook has weighed on the dollar, Treasuries and equities. U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill, up for a vote later in the day, would add $3.8 trillion over the next decade to the current debt of $36.2 trillion. "U.S. equity futures and Treasuries are stabilising this morning, but the risks of another rough session for U.S. markets remain tangible," ING Bank said in a note. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/outflows-decline-past-key-technical-level-pushes-rupee-one-month-low-2025-05-22/
2025-05-22 10:10
FRANKFURT, May 22 (Reuters) - The German economy is likely to stagnate again this quarter as U.S. tariffs curb exports while Berlin's new spending plans won't support growth until next year, the Bundesbank said on Thursday. Global trade tensions are adding to long-standing problems in Germany such as high energy prices and an industry that struggles to keep pace with foreign competitors, even in areas where it used to excel such as cars. Sign up here. "Various burdens persist, and the U.S. government's tightened tariff policy is creating additional headwinds," the German central bank said in its monthly report. "This is particularly affecting the export industry, which is already struggling with a difficult competitive position and weak demand." It added that the start to the second quarter was likely to have been "still good", citing an increase in the number of cars produced in April compared with the previous quarter, but the outlook was worsening. The Bundesbank said measures contained in the new government's coalition agreement, such as more infrastructure spending, were likely to support the economy in the future but not before next year. The German central bank welcomed measures aimed at attracting corporate investments such as a planned tax incentive and reduced supply-chain due diligence, but it lamented the lack of a "coherent overall concept for the energy transition". https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/german-economy-stalling-us-tariffs-curb-exports-bundesbank-says-2025-05-22/
2025-05-22 10:02
LONDON, May 22 (Reuters) - British manufacturers suffered a sharp contraction in orders and output this month, the Confederation of British Industry said, chiming with another closely-watched business survey published earlier on Thursday. The CBI's monthly balance for manufacturing new orders fell in May to -30 from -26 in April, the weakest reading since January. Sign up here. The report followed on the heels of S&P Global's survey of the manufacturing sector, which showed a severe downturn marked by the fastest pace of job cutting since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic five years ago. The CBI's gauge of output for the past three months fell in May to match December's reading, which had been the lowest since August 2020. "Sentiment among UK manufacturers seems poor, reflecting a combination of rising domestic business costs and US tariff uncertainty," said Ben Jones, lead economist at the CBI. Businesses are facing pressure from high energy costs, rising labour costs and the threat of extra regulation with the government's Employment Rights Bill coming down the track, Jones added. The survey's gauge of exports picked up in May after Britain signed an accord with the United States to lessen President Donald Trump's tariffs and remove some trade barriers, although it remained in deeply negative territory. Reports of rising prices among manufacturers increased in May to their highest level in net terms since January, the CBI said. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/sustainable-finance-reporting/uk-factory-woes-deepen-may-new-orders-ebb-cbi-survey-shows-2025-05-22/
2025-05-22 08:03
May 22 (Reuters) - Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) , opens new tab will start its solar photovoltaic modules factory this year, a company executive said on Thursday. "We are today building three bigger factories... in order to produce clean energy requirements," said Partha P Maitra, President, Strategy and Initiatives at Reliance Industries. Sign up here. India has been scrambling to meet its clean energy targets after falling short in 2022. Over the past year, the country has ramped up investments in the sector, but needs to double capacity additions over the next five years to meet its target of 500 GW non-fossil power capacity by 2030, a Global Energy Monitor report showed. Reliance aims to eventually scale up solar module capacity to 20 GW per year, Maitra said. Its battery and micro power electronics factory will start next year, he said. "If it happens we will be the no. 2 solar PV producer in the world. We will produce roughly 14% of total solar PV modules outside China," the executive said. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/indias-reliance-start-solar-module-factory-this-year-exec-says-2025-05-22/
2025-05-22 07:55
HANOI, May 22 (Reuters) - Vietnam's state power utility has cut previously agreed subsidised prices it pays for electricity from some solar and wind farms which now risk defaulting on their debts with banks, according to an investors' petition seen by Reuters. The document, dated May 16 and sent to Vietnam's top authorities, follows a first letter in which most of the same signatories warned of billions of dollars of investment at risk because of retroactive changes to subsidies implemented by Vietnamese authorities even as they target a massive expansion of renewables capacity. Sign up here. Starting with January invoices, a subsidiary of Vietnam's power utility EVN "unilaterally withheld a portion of its payments by applying a provisional tariff of its own proposal," the document said. "This has caused us to breach commitments to banks and both local and international lenders, face the risk of default under pressure of monthly debt repayments, and suffer cash shortages," it added. Among the 16 foreign signatories are private equity fund Dragon Capital, the Vietnamese subsidiary of Philippines' ACEN (ACEN.PS) , opens new tab energy group, and investors from Thailand, Portugal, the Netherlands, South Korea, Singapore and China. Dozens of other Vietnamese projects also signed the letter. In recent years, the Southeast Asian country has experienced a boom in renewable energy investments driven by generous feed-in tariffs (FiTs), under which the state committed to buying electricity for 20 years at above-market prices, effectively subsidising producers. However, amid allegations of abuses in accessing the FiTs and increasing losses for EVN from the subsidy programme, authorities have proceeded to freeze or cut some subsidies. EVN had no immediate comment on the second petition but it has told Reuters in recent weeks that preferential prices could not be continued for projects that violated regulations. It did not specify whether rules were changed retroactively and which projects were in breach of regulations. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/vietnam-retroactively-cuts-subsidies-some-solar-wind-farms-investors-letter-says-2025-05-22/
2025-05-22 07:49
Merz confidant urges tougher sanctions, including gas, uranium Frei says Putin 'only understands clear language' Europeans have called for ceasefire in Ukraine BERLIN, May 22 (Reuters) - Europe needs to step "out of its comfort zone" and consider much tougher sanctions on Russia, such as bans on gas or uranium, or tapping into frozen Russian state assets, Thorsten Frei, the chief of staff of Germany's new chancellor, told Reuters. The EU and Britain announced new sanctions against Russia on Tuesday over its invasion of Ukraine, zeroing in on Moscow's "shadow fleet" of oil tankers and financial firms that have helped it avoid the impact of other sanctions. Sign up here. The next round of EU sanctions - currently being prepared - must be strong, including even some measures that might impact other EU states, Frei said in an interview at his new office in the chancellery. "We must step out of our comfort zone and adopt measures that truly go beyond the status quo," the conservative politician said. Asked if that meant European import bans on gas or uranium and tapping into frozen Russian state assets, Frei said: "These are exactly the kinds of measures that would really hurt Russia - and thus achieve the impact we actually intend with sanctions." Frei also endorsed calls for sanctions on the Nord Stream gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea. Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who took office this month, said last week Germany and its allies would move to confiscate frozen Russian assets if legally possible. Discussions about sanctions on Russian energy are ongoing, Merz said. After Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to accept Europe's call for a ceasefire, however, the tone in Berlin seems to be hardening further. "I strongly support going down this path because we have seen in the past that Russia essentially only accepts, acknowledges, and understands clear language." 'PLAYING FOR TIME' Frei accused Putin of having no intention of seeking peace noting that even during peace talks last week with Ukraine in Istanbul Russia's attacks "continued unabated - they even intensified". "He's playing for time," Frei said of the Russian leader. Putin wants to create military facts on the ground, he added, and clearly expects to achieve his war aims militarily: "These are not exactly the best conditions for a quick peace." Frei said he could not rule out the possibility that Germany might increase its military aid for Ukraine from €7 billion ($8 billion) in the draft budget for this year. He did not say by how much the aid might increase. ($1 = 0.8830 euros) https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/new-german-chancellery-chief-calls-tougher-russia-sanctions-2025-05-22/
