2025-05-08 12:19
May 8 (Reuters) - India's Jindal Stainless (JIST.NS) , opens new tab said on Thursday a domestic trade body will soon seek anti-dumping duties on stainless steel imports from China and Vietnam, weeks after India levied a 12% temporary safeguard duty on some steel imports to support local mills. The earlier tariff move was aimed at helping Indian producers who were forced to scale down operations and consider job cuts due to a surge in cheaper shipments from China, South Korea, and Japan. Sign up here. Stainless steel was not included in the products covered by the temporary tariff. "Data shows that there is dumping happening from China and Vietnam," Managing Director Abhyuday Jindal said in a post-earnings call, adding that shipments from the countries were coming to India at "throwaway prices". "The threat is very clear," Jindal added. The O.P. Jindal Group company reported an 18% on-year rise in consolidated profit after tax to 5.9 billion rupees ($69.03 million) for the quarter ended March 31. Net revenue grew 8% to 101.98 billion rupees. Domestic sales rose to 92% of total revenue in the quarter from 89% a year earlier, while exports fell to 8% from 11%. However, the company said it is expecting exports volumes to grow by 30% in financial year 2025-26. The U.S. tariffs on steel gives the company a level-playing field with other countries in the export market, Jindal said. "We are expecting growth in the U.S. business due to the tariffs," he added. Earlier this year, U.S. President Donald Trump, imposed 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium products from all countries. Additionally, Jindal Stainless' sales volumes grew 9% to 2.37 million tons in financial year 2025. It expects the volumes to grow at 9%-10% in fiscal 2026. ($1 = 85.4720 Indian rupees) https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/indias-stainless-steel-body-file-anti-dumping-petition-few-weeks-jindal-2025-05-08/
2025-05-08 11:53
May 8 (Reuters) - The Ukrainian parliament ratified a milestone minerals deal with the United States on Thursday, lawmakers said. A total of 338 parliamentarians voted in favor of ratification, and no one voted against, said Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the Ukrainian parliament's foreign affairs committee. Sign up here. The agreement grants the U.S. preferential access to Ukrainian mineral resources and paves a path for possible new military aid for Kyiv, although it lacks clear security guarantees. https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraine-ratifies-strategic-minerals-deal-with-us-2025-05-08/
2025-05-08 11:53
LONDON, May 8 (Reuters) - The Bank of England cut its main interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 4.25% on Thursday, though with an unexpected three-way split among policymakers as U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs weigh on global economic growth. The BoE's Monetary Policy Committee voted 5-4 in favour of the decision to cut rates by a quarter point. Two members, Swati Dhingra and Alan Taylor, voted for a bigger half-point cut while Chief Economist Huw Pill and external member Catherine Mann wanted to keep interest rates on hold. Sign up here. The BoE said it thought the increase in tariffs by the U.S. and other countries would weigh somewhat on British economic growth and push down on inflation in Britain but it stressed how unclear the outlook remained. MARKET REACTION: STOCKS: The benchmark FTSE 100 (.FTSE) , opens new tab index pared gains and was last up 0.3%. FOREX: Sterling rose against the dollar after the decision, last up 0.2% to $1.3320. BONDS AND MONEY MARKETS: Two-year gilt yields jumped and were last 7 bps higher at 3.88% . Traders were pricing in less than a 20% chance of a June cut and around 57 bps of total rate cuts by year-end. COMMENTS: PHILIP SHAW, CHIEF ECONOMIST, INVESTEC, LONDON: "It's no surprise that the committee as a whole voted to bring rates down, what perhaps was surprising that two members including chief economist Huw Pill preferred to leave rates unchanged." "That may reduce speculation as to a possible back-to-back reduction at next month’s meeting. Our base line case remains that we will see the next cut in August." LUKE BARTHOLOMEW, DEPUTY CHIEF ECONOMIST, ABERDEEN, LONDON: "The Monetary Policy Committee is clearly very divided on how policy should respond to the many shocks currently hitting the economy." "This is highly unusual and will make it hard for the Bank to send a clear signal to the market about the likely path of policy. But with the bank maintaining its guidance that further cuts will be 'gradual and careful', the chance of another cut in June probably have fallen significantly." "We still think the Bank will cut rates at least twice more later this year, but much like the Fed’s message yesterday, UK policymakers will want to see more data on how tariffs and domestic tax increases are being digested by the economy before moving decisively." ANDREW WISHART, SENIOR UK ECONOMIST, BERENBERG, LONDON: "The vote split was obviously more hawkish than expected with two members voting to keep on hold, I think, worried by how aggressive the rate cuts priced in by the market had become and also signs that core inflation is going to remain elevated as companies pass through quite a lot of the cost increases from the wage and tax increases in April." "But there was also something for the doves in the communications, because the Bank still expects inflation to drop back to 2% in the forecast, but compared to market pricing beforehand I think they ruled out moving to faster paced cuts by keeping the gradual language in there. "They will probably be on hold again in June and then reassess when we get to the August meeting." GEORGE BROWN, SENIOR ECONOMIST, SCHRODERS, LONDON: "Today’s decision came as no surprise to anyone. But going forward, the Bank of England has far less scope to cut rates than the market currently expects." "While Trump's tariffs will provide some marginal relief through lower goods prices, the fundamental issue for the UK is that it continues to face considerable capacity constraints. As such, inflation looks set to rise again later this year as a result of disappointing productivity and sticky wage growth." "To our minds, this is consistent with the Bank only taking interest rates as low as around 4% this rate-cutting cycle." JEREMY BATSTONE-CARR, STRATEGIST, RAYMOND JAMES INVESTMENT SERVICES, FRANCE: "As important for hard-pressed British households and businesses as today’s decision is, the bank is cautiously signalling it is likely to go further in coming months, looking past the strong likelihood that near-term inflationary pressures are likely to rise." "Lower rates are coming, but it may be autumn before the Old Lady feels confident enough in the outlook to ease borrowing costs again." JULIUS BENDIKAS, EUROPEAN HEAD OF ECONOMICS AND DYNAMIC ASSET ALLOCATION, MERCER, LONDON: "The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee faces a tricky balancing act with inflation and wages still elevated. Global trade issues are likely to put downward pressure on both growth and inflation. We expect the Bank to keep cutting rates, reaching 3.5% or lower by 2026, as price and wage inflation moderate further." https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/view-boe-cuts-interest-rates-pound-yields-rise-after-surprise-vote-split-2025-05-08/
2025-05-08 11:42
May 8 (Reuters) - Coal India (COAL.NS) , opens new tab will set up clean energy projects of around 4.5 gigawatts at a cost of 250 billion rupees (about $3 billion), it said on Thursday, as it aims to achieve net zero carbon emissions from its operations. The state-owned miner has been diversifying beyond the polluting fuel, which is still key for the country's power needs, as a part of the wider national aim to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2070. Sign up here. The coal giant targets to supply clean energy through solar and wind energy projects to the upcoming green ammonia facilities of AM Green Ammonia (India). It did not give a date for building these projects. AM Green, in which the founders of India's Greenko Group have large stakes, targets to produce 5 million tons per annum (MTPA) of green ammonia by 2030. Coal India's clean energy projects come amid its drive to expand its coal-powered capacity, and at a time when electricity demand in the country has been increasing thanks to climate change and increasing industrialisation. India aims to raise its coal-fired capacity by 80 gigawatts by 2031–32, from the current 222 GW, to meet growing demand for power, and, in parallel, the country is also aiming to add at least 500 GW of clean energy by 2030, against 172 GW currently. However, India's renewable energy sector is grappling with several obstacles, including weak demand for tenders, land acquisition challenges, delays in power purchase agreements, and project cancellations. ($1 = 85.6370 Indian rupees) https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/coal-india-set-up-3-billion-worth-clean-energy-projects-boost-renewable-heft-2025-05-08/
2025-05-08 11:32
Ukraine's parliament votes 338 in favour of the deal Kyiv hopes it will unlock new U.S. weapons deliveries Vote comes a day before Putin's military parade KYIV, May 8 (Reuters) - Ukraine's parliament voted on Thursday in favour of ratifying a minerals deal signed with the United States, an agreement Kyiv hopes will secure future military assistance from Washington in its fight to repel Russian troops. Despite misgivings by some Ukrainian lawmakers over whether the government had provided them with all the information on the deal and over some of its compromises, 338 voted in favour of ratifying the agreement, with none against. Sign up here. "The Ukrainian Parliament has ratified the historic Economic Partnership Agreement between Ukraine and the United States," First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said in a post on X. "This document is not merely a legal construct — it is the foundation of a new model of interaction with a key strategic partner." Some lawmakers had raised concerns over the lack of detail of some of the deal's provisions, such as how an envisaged investment fund for Ukraine's reconstruction would be governed or how any contributions would be made. Svyrydenko called an early Thursday press conference to answer some of those concerns, saying the investment fund would be operational in a few weeks, and its success would depend on the level of U.S. engagement. Two supplements would spell out the details and would be published at a later date, officials have said about the deal which might not see a payoff for a decade or longer. Parliament's ratification comes a day before Russia - which launched a full-scale invasion into Ukraine in February 2022 - will try to show its strength at a military parade to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. Those preparations have been overshadowed by Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia, and Kyiv will hope the ratification of the minerals deal will bolster its position in ceasefire talks, which so far have done little to close the gap between Moscow and Kyiv, to the frustration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Russia's demands for Ukraine to cede all the land Russian President Vladimir Putin claims to have annexed and accept permanent neutrality have been rejected by Kyiv, which says that would amount to surrender and leave the nation undefended. CEASEFIRE Ukraine has expressed readiness to accept a U.S. proposal to enact an immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire, which could be extended by mutual agreement of the parties, and has accused the Kremlin of ignoring the plan. Putin has proposed a ceasefire of only three days - from May 8-10. The minerals deal, signed last month in Washington, hands the United States preferential access to new Ukrainian minerals deals and sets up the investment fund, which could be used for the reconstruction of Ukraine for the first 10 years. After months of fraught talks that almost fell apart at a disastrous meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in February, the deal also hands Kyiv some wins: no return of aid that Trump says Kyiv owes and a U.S. acknowledgement of Kyiv's intention to join the European Union. Ukraine also sees the deal as a route to unlock the delivery of new U.S. weapons, especially additional Patriot air defence systems it badly needs to repel Russia's increasingly frequent missile attacks. The deal offered no clear guarantee of that. The agreement, which Zelenskiy says offers Ukraine a better deal than previous drafts - which some in Kyiv had described as "colonial", - is central to Kyiv's efforts to mend ties with Trump after the Oval office meeting. Some Ukrainian lawmakers praised the government's efforts to influence Trump's position, which initially appeared to favour Russia. "Trump's initial position is changing by millimetres, but so far its movement is in the right direction," Inna Sovsun, a lawmaker from the Holos opposition party, said on Facebook, adding that while she might not like the deal's "mercantile" nature, it was important to show that Ukraine is a "constructive party". Some 47% of Ukrainians support the deal, while 22% say it might have negative consequences and 19% say it will have no impact, according to researchers at the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraines-parliament-ratifies-minerals-deal-with-us-hopes-more-arms-2025-05-08/
2025-05-08 11:31
May 8 (Reuters) - Chinese companies' involvement in Russian liquefied natural gas projects is being discussed by Russian and Chinese delegations at talks in Moscow, the Interfax news agency cited Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev as saying on Thursday. When asked about the possibility of Chinese companies entering LNG projects in Ust-Luga or other locations in Russia, Tsivilev said that the topic was "being discussed at the moment," but did not provide further details. Sign up here. The state-owned China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and Silk Road Fund hold stakes in Russia's Yamal LNG project, while CNPC and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) are involved in the Arctic LNG 2 project. Russia has repeatedly welcomed the prospect of Chinese companies participating in the construction of an LNG plant and a gas chemical complex in Ust-Luga. Russia and China will sign a large number of documents later on Thursday, including an updated investment agreement, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Chinese President Xi Jinping at a meeting in Moscow. Xi is in the Russian capital this week for commemorations to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies over Nazi Germany in World War Two. (This story has been corrected to say 'Chinese companies,' not 'Russian companies,' in paragraph 2) https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russia-china-discuss-beijings-participation-russian-lng-projects-minister-says-2025-05-08/
