2025-02-05 10:54
KYIV, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has postponed the rotation of its mission to the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant due to a lack of security guarantees from Russia, Ukraine's foreign ministry said on Wednesday. A senior Russian diplomat rejected Ukraine's assertion. "This is not the first time the Kremlin has used blackmail as a tool to intimidate international experts and undermine their independence," a Ukrainian ministry spokesman said. "We will not allow Russia to undermine the Agency's independence and impartiality in order to achieve its criminal goals," he said in a statement. Russia captured Europe's largest nuclear power plant shortly after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The IAEA has deployed staff to the plant since September 2022. Senior Russian diplomat Mikhail Ulyanov, in a statement on X, accused Ukraine of lying about a lack of security guarantees. The Vienna-based diplomat said the Russian Ministry of Defence had provided "all assurances" to the agency, while Ukraine was trying to introduce new demands. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said he would visit Russia later this week to discuss the situation in Ukraine and at the Zaporizhzhia plant. "It's essential that I, in the discharge of my obligations, keep channels of communication constantly," Grossi told a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday. During the visit, he inspected an electricity distribution substation, warning that attacks on Ukraine's power grid could pose a risk of a nuclear accident by disrupting supply. Moscow has regularly attacked Ukraine's energy infrastructure, including substations, although it has avoided direct strikes on Ukraine's nuclear plants which produce more than half of the country's electricity. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/iaea-postpones-rotation-mission-zaporizhzhia-plant-due-lack-security-guarantees-2025-02-05/
2025-02-05 10:51
LONDON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The pound rose to its highest in a month on Wednesday as the dollar retreated further after surging two days ago on the threat of sweeping U.S. tariffs, while the focus in UK markets turned to the Bank of England rate decision on Thursday. Sterling climbed to $1.2532 in morning trade in London, its highest since Jan. 7, and was last up 0.36% at $1.2526. The U.S. dollar index , which tracks the currency against six peers, fell 0.5% on Wednesday. It has receded since hitting a three-week high on Monday, when it jumped as much as 1.3% as the U.S. looked set to impose tariffs on Mexico and Canada. The dollar has since fallen around 2.1% after both Mexico and Canada won a one-month reprieve on tariffs, although the U.S. and China increased levies on each other's exports. A 1% rally in the Japanese yen also knocked the dollar on Wednesday. Many economists think - and British officials are hopeful - that Britain will be spared the worst of U.S. President Donald Trump's aggressive tariff policies due to a more balanced trade situation between the two countries. That has helped the pound rise for three weeks against the euro as traders bet that the euro zone is at greater threat from U.S. levies. The euro was last steady against sterling on Wednesday at 83.11 pence . BOE LOOMS Traders and investors expect the Bank of England to cut interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) to 4.5% on Thursday, reflecting a slowdown in British growth and a drop in previously stubborn services inflation. The Bank will also release new growth and inflation forecasts. The pound is down around 0.8% and 0.6% against the dollar and euro respectively so far this year as markets have priced in more BoE cuts due to slowing growth. "We expect the BoE to cut rates by 25 bp and easing guidance will be strengthened relative to market expectations," said Geoff Yu, senior market strategist at BNY. "Similar to the ECB (European Central Bank), at least one 25 bp cut per quarter should be in play as growth risks remain heavily to the downside, especially measured through household demand," he added. Money market pricing showed traders expected around 84 bps of BoE easing this year. The Bank started lowering its main rate from 5.25% in August. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/sterling-hits-one-month-high-dollar-slides-focus-turns-boe-2025-02-05/
2025-02-05 10:48
Vestas predicts 2025 revenue between 18-20 bln euros Proposes dividend of $0.08 per share Announces share buyback programme of $104 mln COPENHAGEN, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Vestas (VWS.CO) , opens new tab, the world's biggest wind turbine maker, said uncertainty could weigh on performance, but the execution of its record order backlog would boost revenue, and it announced a share buyback as fourth-quarter results beat expectations. Its share price was trading 1.39% higher at 1038 GMT on Wednesday on the Copenhagen bourse, reversing falls immediately after the results announcement. Vestas' operating profit before special items in the fourth quarter grew to 759 million euros ($788 million) from 191 million a year earlier, against a mean forecast of 672 million in an analyst poll , opens new tab provided by Vestas. It also predicted a full-year 2025 operating profit margin before special items of 4%-7% and revenue of between 18 billion and 20 billion euros against an average forecast , opens new tab in the analyst poll of 19.47 billion euros. "Although ongoing geopolitical and trade volatility is expected to cause uncertainty, the execution of our record-high order backlog is expected to drive increased revenue in 2025," the company said in a statement. The company proposed a dividend of 0.55 Danish crowns per share, and in a separate statement said it would initiate a share buy-back programme of up to 746 million Danish crowns ($104.25 million). Analysts took a mixed view. "The 2024 report was markedly better than expected and it sends some very confident signals and shows belief in the future," Sydbank analyst Jacob Pedersen said. "But the 2025 outlook is just not as strong as expected." ($1 = 7.1655 Danish crowns) ($1 = 0.9603 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/wind-turbine-maker-vestas-q4-profit-beats-expectations-2025-02-05/
2025-02-05 10:46
China stocks adrift as tit-for-tat tariffs fly Authorities hold yuan broadly steady Investors try to avoid exposure to tariff-sensitive sectors SINGAPORE, Feb 5 (Reuters) - As China and the U.S. battle over tariffs, locked in a tussle that could result in a deal or a trade war between the world's two largest economies, staying away from China's stock market is becoming the default option for foreign investors. The Chinese stock market (.CSI300) , opens new tab, already reeling from investor worries over where the economy is headed and disappointment at Beijing's effort to stimulate growth, returned from a week-long break with a muted reaction to the trade dispute. While the 10% U.S. tariffs imposed on Tuesday fell far short of President Donald Trump's campaign threats, and China's tit-for-tat measures were seen as modest, analysts said the subdued market fall suggested investors may be taking a more measured response to trade war fears than in Trump's first term in office. Conflicting reports on Wednesday over whether and when Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would talk and a sudden halt on the U.S. accepting postal packages from China - which blindsided e-commerce stocks - highlighted the pitfalls investors want to avoid. "I will take the more safe approach right now and not fight the tariffs," said Francis Tan, chief strategist for Asia at CA-Indosuez, who is advising his clients to rotate into bonds as they provide a good buffer to hedge against downside in the equities. "The level of uncertainty has increased because, while they are showing their hands, no one knows if the actual trade war game has begun or when it will come." Global investors were already wary about China's growth prospects due to concerns over its protracted property crisis, deflationary pressures and the lack of follow-through on Beijing's promises of stimulus. In the past three months, foreign investors have pulled nearly $12 billion from China-focused funds, according to LSEG Lipper data, all but reversing October's inflow of $13 billion. The lumpy flows point to profit-taking and a lack of sticky capital that is going to keep flowing to China for the long-run. "I think that a lot of people say that China's waiting for Trump and they're going to have all this kind of stimulus to roll out. I don't really believe that," said Sat Duhra, portfolio manager for Asian dividend income at Janus Henderson. "We don't really want to add anything to China because we seem to have got it okay at this point... adding anything else should probably present a lot more risk." TRADING TRADE WAR Relatively muted price moves also point to a market braced for trade conflict and unwilling to gamble on the outcome, which analysts say is going to be more complicated to sort out than Trump's deals with Mexico and Canada. Even the yuan currency, which many expect to weaken if Beijing wants to offset U.S. tariffs, fell back only a little on Wednesday as authorities pushed its trading band a little stronger in a signal they intend to keep it stable, for now. Mainland blue-chip stocks (.CSI300) , opens new tab fell 0.6% on Monday for a 3.6% drop over the year to date, against a 3% rise for global stocks (.dMIWD00000PUS) , opens new tab. A bounce in Hong Kong's Hang Seng index (.HSI) , opens new tab this week, with speculative gains for tariff-targets such as Chinese electric vehicle stocks also lacked momentum or much volume. "It's just short-term trading... people need to be short-term oriented," said Steven Leung, who handles institutional clients at stockbroker UOB Kay Hian in Hong Kong. To be sure, some investors say Chinese markets are still relatively cheap - with a forward price-to-earnings ratio around 11 for the Shanghai Composite compared with 22 for the S&P 500 - and that opportunities abound for stock picking. Few, though, want to risk getting caught up in tariffs or have much inclination to trade the headlines. "We have very little exposure to any companies caught up in the tariff spat and as such will not be adjusting our portfolio," said Rob Brewis at UK-based Aubrey Capital Management. Vivian Lin Thurston, portfolio manager for William Blair’s emerging markets growth strategy has not increased cash allocation for China equity strategies and prefers firms that face limited tariff impact, including domestic focused e-commerce, internet, consumer and industrials companies. Janus's Duhra, who is underweight China, has also avoided export-focused Chinese companies and instead bought domestic travel firms and state-owned enterprises. In December, Melbourne fund manager K2 Asset Management shut an Asia fund it had run for 25 years. "The long structural overweight to China is over," said K2 managing director and head of research George Boubouras. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/trade-war-or-not-global-investors-turn-even-more-cautious-china-2025-02-05/
2025-02-05 09:57
MOSCOW, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday it would boost its sales of Chinese yuan by 17% from Feb. 7 in a move seen as aimed at supporting the rouble in the face of increased volatility due to Western sanctions and turbulence in the global forex market. Under a complex scheme of foreign currency operations, the central bank buys and sells forex both to ensure supply on the domestic market and to act on behalf of the finance ministry, which runs the "rainy day" National Wealth Fund (NWF). The finance ministry said it would cut its purchases of foreign currency and gold in the month ahead, a move that will increase the state's overall forex sales, providing support for the rouble. The finance ministry said its purchases of foreign currencies and gold for the period from Feb. 7 to March 6 would amount to the equivalent of 66.5 billion roubles, or 3.3 billion roubles a day. In the previous period the purchases amounted to the equivalent of 70.2 billion roubles, or 4.1 billion roubles a day. The move implied that the overall net forex sales by the government and the central bank will rise to 5.56 billion roubles per day from Feb. 7 from 4.76 billion roubles previously. The central bank cannot buy and sell dollars and euros because of Western sanctions imposed over Russia's actions in Ukraine. China's yuan, which is now the most traded foreign currency in Russia, has become the regulator's only instrument for forex interventions. At 0930 GMT, the rouble was up 2.2% at 98.50 against the dollar, according to data from the over-the-counter market. It strengthened 0.13% to 13.27 against China's yuan in trading on the Moscow Stock Exchange (MOEX). The rouble has already surged 13% against the dollar this year due to lower demand from Russian importers during the New Year holiday season and despite new Western sanctions, which targeted sales of oil, Russia's main export commodity. The central bank said on Feb. 4 that the rouble exchange rate remains volatile due to continued problems with cross-border payments with Russia's trading partners and the shrinking current account surplus. In a separate move, the central bank reduced the volume of its yuan swap operations by 50% to 5 billion yuan, as China's Lunar New Year holiday ended and Russian banks can now replenish their yuan stocks. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/russia-plans-boost-yuan-sales-by-17-support-rouble-2025-02-05/
2025-02-05 09:43
FID expected 2026 rather than end-2025 Production capacity seen at 150,000 barrels per day, down from 160,000 Fellow majors have written down discoveries in country PARIS, Feb 5 (Reuters) - French oil major TotalEnergies expects to take a final investment decision (FID) on its Namibian offshore oil discovery in 2026, CEO Patrick Pouyanne said on Wednesday at a press briefing. The development would have a production capacity of 150,000 barrels per day, down from an initial 160,000 barrels per day discussed at its investor day in October. Pouyanne had previously targeted the end of 2025 for a decision on FID at a results call last April. The French oil major has said it is struggling to achieve breakeven at under $20 per barrel, an internal requirement for FID. Promising offshore discoveries in Namibia, which has no oil and gas production, have been complicated by a high amount of gas that will make development more expensive. Last month Shell(SHEL.L) , opens new tab wrote down its Namibian discoveries, while Chevron (CVX.N) , opens new tab declared its initial findings commercially unviable. (This story has been corrected to clarify that Shell wrote down its Namibian discoveries, not BP, in paragraph 6) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/totalenergies-namibia-project-smaller-than-expected-2025-02-05/
