2025-03-24 11:24

LONDON, March 24 (Reuters) - Service provider Trading Technologies said market data issues for the London Metal Exchange (LME) reported earlier on Monday appeared to have been resolved, though it was still doing additional checks to ensure stability. Several LME member firms reported prices missing on Monday on LMEtrader, provided directly by Trading Technologies, and Standard TT GUI (graphical user interface) screens, including carry prices, the LME said. Sign up here. Apart from Trading Technologies, there were no reports of issues with any other independent software vendor (ISV) providers, the exchange said. The LME, the world's oldest and largest market for industrial metals, rolled out "LMEselect v10," its new trading platform, to enhance its electronic markets on Monday. "We are pleased to confirm that the LMEselect v10 trading platform and LMEsource v4 market data platform launched as planned and are currently running as expected," the LME, owned by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. (0388.HK) , opens new tab, said. https://www.reuters.com/business/trading-technology-provider-bids-resolve-lme-market-data-issues-2025-03-24/

2025-03-24 11:22

March 24 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose on Monday to touch a three-week high after the Trump administration signaled it may give some countries breaks on tariffs and take a more measured approach against its trading partners. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE) , opens new tab was up 335.62 points, or 1.34%, at 25,304.11. Sign up here. U.S. President Donald Trump had anticipated applying broad levies starting on April 2 but a set of sector-specific tariffs is now likely to be excluded, according to media reports over the weekend citing administration officials. "We were due for some optimism, especially as we were getting close April 2. Now we have a little bit more clarity on what that's going to look like," said Barry Schwartz, chief investment officer at Baskin Wealth. "Markets like certainty, whether good or bad," Schwartz said. A Trump administration official on Monday cautioned that the situation was fluid and no final decisions had been made. Trump also said not all the new tariffs would be announced on April 2, and that he may give "a lot of countries" breaks on tariffs, but provided no details. On the TSX, the information technology (.SPTTTK) , opens new tab sector advanced nearly 2.5%, with blockchain farm operator Bitfarms (BITF.TO) , opens new tab rising 8% after bitcoin climbed 3.9%. Shopify (SHOP.TO) , opens new tab rose 4.7% on a broader tech rally south of the border. The energy sector (.SPTTEN) , opens new tab gained 1.5%, as oil prices strengthened. The heavily weighted financials (.SPTTFS) , opens new tab also rose 1.6%. On the data front, U.S. business activity picked up in March, but growing fears over import tariffs and deep government spending cuts weighed on prospects for the rest of the year. Canada's January GDP figures and the U.S. Federal Reserve's preferred inflation reading — the Personal Consumption Expenditure data — are expected later in the week. New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called a snap election for April 28 on Sunday, saying he needed a strong mandate to deal with the threat posed by Trump. Among individual stocks, Peyto Exploration & Development (PEY.TO) , opens new tab advanced nearly 4% after BMO upgraded its rating to "outperform" from "market perform". Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO) , opens new tab fell 6% after the software company cut its revenue forecast for 2025 due to tariff uncertainty. https://www.reuters.com/markets/tsx-futures-rise-reports-moderate-us-approach-tariffs-2025-03-24/

2025-03-24 11:20

WARSAW, March 24 (Reuters) - Polish utility PGE (PGE.WA) , opens new tab plans to invest about 18 billion zlotys ($4.7 billion) in battery storage projects, CEO Dariusz Marzec said on Monday. With a growing share of intermittent renewable capacity in the system replacing stable electricity generation from coal, Poland urgently needs to develop battery storage to continue its energy transformation. Sign up here. "The total value of investment in large-scale energy storage facilities is about 6 billion zlotys," Marzec told reports, adding that this was for six large projects, with plans to invest a further 12 billion zlotys in smaller facilities across the country. The company said it plans to build a total of 85 energy storage projects that will increase its storage capacity to more than 17,000 megawatt hours, which it says will provide energy for about 2.5 million households. ($1 = 3.8557 zlotys) https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/polands-pge-invest-about-47-billion-battery-storage-projects-2025-03-24/

2025-03-24 11:06

BEIJING/SINGAPORE, March 24 (Reuters) - Several steel makers in northwestern China's Xinjiang region began production cuts from Monday, local reports said, after Beijing earlier stated its intent to curb capacity in an industry long plagued by overcapacity. Among them, Xinjiang Ba Yi Iron and Steel Co (600581.SS) , opens new tab, a subsidiary of China Baowu Steel Group, the world's largest steel producer, plans to cut daily crude steel output by 10% from Monday, media outlet Cailianshe and consultancy Mysteel said. Sign up here. Xinjiang Ba Yi Iron and Steel and China Baowu did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. While Xinjiang accounted for only 1.3% of China's crude steel output in 2024, industry watchers said the production cuts signal that Beijing's push to rein in oversupply that has pushed down prices amid week domestic demand and led to a wave of exports, sparking trade frictions, is having an impact. Most steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange posted gains on Monday, with rebar advancing 1.23%, hot-rolled coil up nearly 1.28%, and wire rod gaining 1.44%. During China's annual parliamentary session this month, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), disclosed its intent to cut steel output but gave few details. At an industry event on Saturday, Jiang Wei, secretary general of the state-backed China Iron and Steel Association, proposed to close the "entrance" for adding new capacity, China Metallurgical News reported. In 2021, Beijing began to mandate zero annual growth in its crude steel output to limit carbon emissions. As a result, steel output in China, by far the world's largest producer, feel by 5.6% to 1.005 billion tons last year from a peak of 1.065 billion tons in 2020. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/some-chinese-steel-makers-start-output-cuts-heeding-national-call-2025-03-24/

2025-03-24 11:00

LONDON, March 24 (Reuters) - If military and diplomatic alliances help determine where countries bank hard currency reserves, the fraying of transatlantic ties raises big questions about the future balance between global dollar and euro holdings. Perennial doubts about the dollar's long-dominant world reserve status are back in the spotlight as President Donald Trump's administration sets about rewiring America's trade and military ties. Sign up here. While the discussion about geopolitics and reserve holdings has usually centered on major developing countries, such as China, little consideration has typically been given to the accounts of traditional U.S. allies, especially Europe. The countless studies , opens new tab about the dollar's role as the world's reserve currency almost always conclude that the greenback - which still commands 57% of known global central bank reserves - is unlikely to be unseated any time soon. The reasoning is usually that dollar alternatives lack markets with the same size, transparency and liquidity as the U.S. And the pervasive presence of the dollar in global offshore centers and in world trade invoicing further entrench its use. But a 2022 paper from Federal Reserve , opens new tab Board economist Colin Weiss - examining the impact on dollar holdings of the decision to freeze Russia's assets after it invaded Ukraine - homed in on the fact that roughly three-quarters of foreign official holdings of U.S. assets are with countries that have military ties to Washington. "While U.S. dollar reserves are no longer exclusively held by political allies reliant on U.S. military support, as they were from the 1960s through the 1980s, these countries are still the most important set of reserve holders." Weiss broke down the countries between those with formal military alliances with the U.S., those with informal ones involving arms agreements or joint exercises with the U.S. military, and those with specific economic and financial ties such as dollar currency pegs. He suggests that in scenarios involving highly fractious geopolitics, the risk of dollar reserve divestment represents about $800 billion - or just over 6% of the dollar's share of total reserve holdings. "Even a geopolitically-motivated move away from the U.S. dollar in trade invoicing would only diminish the dollar’s role as a reserve currency and not destroy it," he concludes. RESERVES AND COERCION But this study was done long before this year's dramatic splintering of transatlantic relations over the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which has prompted a significant rethink of Europe's defence relationship with Washington and led to a re-armament push across the entire continent. Germany's gigantic defense and fiscal reboot this month is well-documented, and increases in defense spending across the European Union both at a national and central EU level are under way - even if replacing the U.S. will likely take years. The Financial Times reported last week that Europe's big military powers are drawing up plans to take over responsibility for the continent's defence from the U.S. through a managed transfer spanning five to 10 years. That shifting landscape raises questions about how European allies will view their dollar reserve holdings going forward - or indeed their exposure to the dollar payment systems more generally in light of U.S. retrenchment. And if Europe's combined military clout eventually assumes some of the characteristics of the U.S.' current military power, might that not affect where reserve holdings around the world are located too? Pointedly last week, European Central Bank chief economist Philip Lane said Europe's dependence on American payment providers left it open to "economic pressure and coercion," outlining risks in deteriorating transatlantic relations. "We are witnessing a global shift towards a more multipolar monetary system, with payments systems and currencies increasingly wielded as instruments of geopolitical influence," he said, adding that the development of a "digital euro" was one promising option. The euro's 20% share of world reserves remains the second-largest, by some distance, and the percentage has remained fairly constant at this level for the past 10 years, even as the dollar's share has fallen by seven percentage points over the decade. While there has been much debate about the potential rise of the Chinese yuan's tiny 2% share of world reserves, the prospect of greater euro use has often been dismissed - in part due to concerns about the fragmented underlying debt markets and incomplete aspects of the euro currency and banking unions. But the expected expansion of European public debt and likely boost to joint EU borrowing may help meet some of the demand for top-rated "safe" assets from regional and overseas reserve managers. In a world where Washington's international relations are increasingly unpredictable and its trade and economic policies more inward-looking, the second-largest reserve asset may well find itself gaining ground on the longtime frontrunner. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/transatlantic-rift-might-spur-euro-reserve-holdings-mike-dolan-2025-03-24/

2025-03-24 10:57

Chinese Q1 LNG imports lowest since 2020 European imports at record seasonal high in Q1 Europe enters critical gas refilling season with depleted stocks European inventories post first gain this winter on March 22 LONDON, March 24 - China’s imports of liquefied natural gas have sputtered this year, freeing up volumes that are helping Europe restock its rapidly dwindling supplies following a harsh winter. China's LNG imports are expected to drop by 22% in the first three months of the year compared to 2024 to 15.8 million metric tons, the lowest level since 2020 for the period, according to analytics firm Kpler. Sign up here. The decline is due to a confluence of factors, including reduced demand for residential heating in northern China driven by warmer weather, weaker industrial demand, higher domestic gas production and increased pipeline gas imports. It might be tempting to connect this decrease in energy imports to the escalating trade war between China and the United States. President Donald Trump has imposed several rounds of tariffs on Beijing, which has retaliated by placing its own duties on U.S. imports, including a 15% tariff on LNG. And U.S. LNG did make up only 1%, or 62,000 tons, of China’s total LNG imports in March, compared with 3%, or 188,000 tons, in January, Kpler showed. But there is limited evidence to suggest that the burgeoning trade war has weighed on Chinese economic activity or energy imports – or even that it is responsible for the country’s reduced reliance on U.S. gas. Rather, lower imports from the U.S. most likely stem from the fact that the vast majority of U.S. cargoes are sold without any restrictions on their final destination, a feature not offered by other suppliers such as Qatar or many Australian producers. This means that if Chinese traders do not require all the U.S. LNG volumes they committed to buy, they can resell these cargoes to third parties, such as European buyers. JUST IN TIME In any event, the sharp deceleration in Chinese buying comes at an opportune time for Europe, as winter is nearing its end in the Northern Hemisphere, meaning the region needs to refill its gas inventories. The need is especially acute this year. A colder than usual winter coupled with the termination of the last major pipeline delivering Russian gas into the region has led to a sharp draw in Europe's stocks, which stood at just 33.9% of capacity by March 21, far below last year's 60%, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe. Moreover, the incentives to store gas have been limited since November by a distortion in European gas prices, whereby forward gas prices for summer have been trading at a premium to next winter's prices. The price inversion is largely a result of European Union rules requiring member states to fill storage to 90% of capacity by November. All these factors sent benchmark European LNG prices to a two-year high of nearly 60 euros per megawatt hour by February 10, far exceeding Asian prices. This created an arbitrage window that many sellers exploited. In fact, several cargoes originally headed to Asia in recent months have been diverted to Europe, highlighting how much liquidity and flexibility have risen in the global LNG market. While European gas prices have come down sharply from their recent highs, both because supply has been diverted to the region and because of news that the EU might modify its storage capacity rules, Europe’s large imports have persisted. Traders thus appear to be betting on a change in European pricing dynamics. LNG imports surged in March to 10.8 million tons, a record-high for the first three months of the year, according to Kpler. U.S. cargoes accounted for 54% of total imports. The higher imports might already be reversing the decline in inventories, which posted on March 22 their first increase - of 0.06% - since the start of November, according to GIE data. Europe has relied heavily on LNG imports since Russian pipeline gas supplies started being reduced in the run-up to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The sharp drop in inventories this year means the region will have to import an additional 20 million metric tons, or around 250 cargoes of LNG, compared with last year to meet the filling targets, according to Reuters' calculations. The good news is that a large volume of new LNG supply is set to come online later this year and over the next few years, mostly from Qatar and the United States. This will add liquidity to the fast-growing LNG market, offering traders more arbitrage opportunities that could potentially help reduce regional price volatility. But for now, the slowdown in China's imports is giving Europe a badly needed lifeline as it faces the challenge of refilling its depleted gas inventories by next winter. (The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.) Want to receive my column in your inbox every Thursday, along with additional energy insights and trending stories? Sign up for my Power Up newsletter here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/chinas-lng-import-plunge-comes-just-right-time-europe-bousso-2025-03-24/