2025-01-23 04:29

JAKARTA, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Indonesia's parliament proposed on Thursday to revise the country's mining law to help the government accelerate development of its mineral processing industry and to regulate mining permits for religious groups and for universities. President Prabowo Subianto has vowed to expedite development of Indonesia's mineral processing industry and energy transition and formed a special task force to come up with detailed plan for the sector. A parliamentary plenary meeting on Thursday agreed to launch a formal deliberation process for the law revision. Among the proposed revisions to the mining law was a plan to give certain companies priority access to mining areas for "downstreaming" purposes. The draft said companies may be prioritised based on their investment size, their mineral value-add plan and jobs creation for domestic workers. The draft bill is also includes plans to give priority access to religious groups and universities for certain metal ore mining areas, taking into account the size of the mines, the institutions' capability to manage them, and their plan to develop local economies and education. Indonesia last year issued a regulation allowing religious organisation to manage mining assets to provide them with a source of income, a move that critics have said was to reward the groups for their longstanding political support. The government at the time denied that. The legislative body also proposed that mining area smaller than 2,500 hectares (6,178 acres) will be prioritised for small business to support local economies. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/indonesian-parliament-proposes-revision-mining-law-2025-01-23/

2025-01-23 04:25

Jan 23 (Reuters) - Japanese investors raised their holdings in foreign stocks, driven by a benign U.S. core inflation report that fuelled expectations of Federal Reserve cuts and boosted global equities, while a strong yen also lifted domestic buying power. They invested a net 489.8 billion yen ($3.13 billion) into overseas stocks, for a sixth straight week through Jan. 18, marking their second-largest weekly net purchase since Sept. 7, 2024, according to data from Japan's Ministry of Finance. Analysts noted that the investment in foreign stocks was also driven by increased flows into the new Nippon Individual Savings Accounts (NISA) programme, a tax-free investment scheme, and they expect such investments to persist through March. U.S. core inflation data for December reported a 3.2% increase last week, slightly below the forecast of 3.3%. Strong fourth-quarter earnings from major firms such as JPMorgan (JPM.N) , opens new tab, BlackRock (BLK.N) , opens new tab and Goldman Sachs (GS.N) , opens new tab lifted the MSCI World Index by 2.56%, marking its largest weekly gain since Nov. 8, 2024. Japan's market participants also acquired foreign debt securities of a net 1.01 trillion yen, the highest for a week since Nov. 9. They poured 819.3 billion yen into long-term bonds and 194.2 billion yen into short-term bills. At the same time, Japanese stocks witnessed a marginal 66.1 billion yen worth of foreign outflows last week, contrasting 259.1 billion yen in inflows in the previous week. Japan's Nikkei share average (.N225) , opens new tab reached a 1-1/2-month low of 38,055.68 last week, weighed down by a stronger yen and investor caution ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's inaugural speech. The Nikkei, however, has climbed nearly 3.5% so far this week, powered by SoftBank Group and other technology stocks, as Trump announced a private sector investment of up to $500 billion to fund AI infrastructure. Foreign investors bought a net 876.1 billion yen in Japanese long-term bonds, the largest purchase in six weeks, while also adding a net 1.33 trillion yen worth of short-term bills last week. ($1 = 156.4100 yen) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/japan/japanese-investors-boost-foreign-stock-purchases-fed-rate-cut-hopes-2025-01-23/

2025-01-23 03:11

LIMA, Jan 22 (Reuters) - DP World is interested in investing more than $1 billion to expand port infrastructure in Peru, the country's government said on Wednesday following a meeting between President Dina Boluarte and the UAE port and logistics firm's top executive. DP World CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem told Boluarte the potential investment and expansion of port infrastructure would create jobs and boost agricultural exports, the government said on X. The company operates the Callao port terminal, the Andean country's largest port, located on the central coast. DP World was "currently evaluating opportunities to deploy more investments in its Peruvian operation," the company's Peru office said in a statement later, without providing a figure for any possible investment. Boluarte met Sulayem at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. She also held meetings with several other executives and world leaders on Wednesday, including representatives of miners Anglo American (AAL.L) , opens new tab and Glencore (GLEN.L) , opens new tab. Both are interested in expanding in Peru, the government said. Anglo American expressed interested in broadening its investment in the Quellaveco copper project, according to the government. An Anglo American spokesperson in Peru did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Glencore, meanwhile, operates the massive Antamina copper mine with BHP (BHP.AX) , opens new tab. A local spokesperson for Glencore did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/dp-world-anglo-american-seek-expand-operations-peru-says-government-2025-01-22/

2025-01-23 00:26

Jan 23 (Reuters) - Russia-installed officials in Ukraine's partly-occupied Zaporizhzhia region said Ukrainian drones on Wednesday attacked Enerhodar, a city serving the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Russia seized the nuclear plant, Europe's largest with six reactors, in the early days of the war and each side has since accused the other of staging periodic attacks on the facility. Russia-installed local officials have reported attacks on Enerhodar, particularly on two electricity substations nearby. Russian media quoted the city's authorities as saying at least four drones had attacked Enerhodar. It said there were no casualties and no details on damage were provided. "This is a terrorist act," Russia-installed Acting Mayor Maksim Pukha told Russia's RIA news agency, saying civil infrastructure and residential areas had been targeted. "Peaceful residents should in no way be targets of such an attack." Each side has accused the other of risking a nuclear catastrophe by attacking the station. Monitors from the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, are permanently stationed at the plant. The governor of the part of Zaporizhzhia region held by Ukraine, Ivan Fedorov, said five drones had attacked the city of Zaporizhzhia, located about 60 km (35 miles) northwest of the plant, across a large reservoir on the Dnipro River. He posted a picture on Telegram of a large fire he said had been triggered by the attack. Vladimir Rogov, a senior Russia-appointed official in Zaporizhzhia region, said the attack had disrupted power and water supplies in the city. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukrainian-drones-attack-city-near-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant-officials-say-2025-01-23/

2025-01-23 00:13

DUBAI, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis have released the crew of the Galaxy Leader more than a year after they seized their Bahamas-flagged vessel off the Yemeni Red Sea coast, Houthi-owned Al Masirah TV reported on Wednesday. It said the crew were handed to Oman "in coordination" with the three-day-old ceasefire in Gaza's war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas. "The release of the Galaxy Leader crew comes within the framework of our solidarity with Gaza and in support of the ceasefire agreement," it quoted the Houthi Supreme Political Council as saying. The crew is comprised of 25 nationals from Bulgaria, Ukraine, the Philippines, Mexico and Romania, according to the car carrier's owner Galaxy Maritime. The vessel was chartered by Japan's Nippon Yusen. The Galaxy Leader was escorted to the Red Sea port of Hodeidah in Houthi-controlled north Yemen after being boarded by Houthi forces at sea on Nov. 19, 2023, soon after the outbreak of war in Gaza. Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said on Monday the group, known formally as Ansar Allah, was ready to act if Israel violated the Gaza ceasefire agreement. "We are in constant readiness to intervene immediately at any time the Israeli enemy returns to escalation, genocidal crimes and siege of the Gaza Strip," he said. The U.N. Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, said in a statement that the "release of the Galaxy Leader crew is heartwarming news that puts an end to the arbitrary detention and separation that they and their families endured for more than a year". "This is a step in the right direction, and I urge Ansar Allah to continue these positive steps on all fronts, including ending all maritime attacks," Grundberg said. The Houthis have carried out more than 100 attacks on ships plying the Red Sea since November 2023, saying they were acting in solidarity with Palestinians against Israel's devastating air and ground war against Hamas in Gaza. They have sunk two vessels, seized another and killed at least four seafarers. The attacks have disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa for more than a year. "Innocent seafarers must not become collateral victims in wider geopolitical tensions," Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization, said in a statement. "We call on all nations to support our seafarers and shipping so that this does not happen again," the International Chamber of Shipping said in a statement. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/yemens-houthis-release-crew-galaxy-leader-after-more-than-year-al-masirah-tv-2025-01-22/

2025-01-22 23:59

LONDON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Nickel ended 2024 trading at four-year lows, a spectacular reversal of fortune for a metal that soared so high in 2022 it almost broke the London Metal Exchange (LME). There is no mystery to this dramatic tale of boom and bust. Indonesia has flooded the world with more metal than it can absorb, crushing the price and leaving a trail of casualties among the rest of the world's producers. The market's fortunes this year depend on whether Jakarta can tame the excesses of its nickel sector and align supply more closely with demand. There are positive signs. Indonesia's mining ministry plans to cut , opens new tab the nickel ore mining quota to 200 million metric tons this year from a previously planned 240 million. The news has sparked a modest price revival, LME 3-month nickel rising by 3% since the start of January. Whether it's enough to generate a more sustained recovery remains to be seen. OUT OF THE SHADOWS Indonesia has emerged as the world's dominant nickel producer over the last decade. The country's mined production exploded from 358,000 tons in 2017 to 2.2 million tons in 2023, according to the World Bureau of Metals Statistics. Indonesian supply was equivalent to over half of global demand that year. The Indonesian supply tsunami initially washed through the Class II segment of the nickel market in the form of stainless steel inputs such as nickel pig iron. That's changed over the last two years after Chinese operators mastered the technology to convert Indonesia's relatively low-grade resource into high-purity Class I products such as sulphate and refined metal. The processing revolution has transferred the market surplus from the Class II shadows to the highly visible world of exchange trading. STOCKS SURGE The LME has listed five Chinese brands and one Indonesian brand of refined nickel since its 2022 meltdown. The impact is clear to see in rising LME inventory. Low LME stocks were one of the reasons for the price going supernova in March 2022. They continued sliding through the first half of 2023, falling below 40,000 tons for the first time since 2007. LME inventory has since surged to 172,206 tons on the back of Chinese and Indonesian deliveries. There was no Chinese nickel in the LME storage system until August 2023. As of the end of December 2024 there were 70,000 tons, accounting for 47% of on-warrant stocks. The first Indonesian metal turned up in July last year and amounted to over 7,000 tons by the close of December. LME registered stocks are only part of the bigger stocks picture. LME off-warrant stocks have also grown, while Shanghai Futures Exchange stocks have risen to a five-year high of 35,327 tons. Total exchange inventory was almost 230,000 tons at the end of November 2023, the highest level since 2021. This is good news for both exchanges. The physical liquidity boost has helped restore confidence in both markets, generating a recovery in trading volumes after activity slumped in the wake of the 2022 nickel crisis. It's been less good news for anyone in the nickel production business outside Indonesia and China. Rising stocks have driven the price ever lower. BATTERY DEMAND STUTTERS It's not as if nickel demand has collapsed. The stainless steel sector, which still accounts for the largest share of the metal's usage, performed strongly in 2024. Global melt-shop production rose by 6.3% year-on-year in the first half of last year, according to industry association worldstainless. But nickel's usage in electric vehicle (EV) batteries has been weaker than expected. Although global EV sales grew by 25% in 2025, most of the growth came from China, where automotive companies are increasingly shifting to non-nickel battery chemistry such as lithium-iron-phosphate. Western car-makers are sticking with nickel in their batteries but EV sales rose by a relatively modest 9% in North America and contracted by 3% in Europe last year, according to consultancy Rho Motion. Moreover, both Western and Chinese car buyers are choosing hybrids over pure battery models and hybrids need smaller batteries. Researchers at Adamas Intelligence estimate that the global sales-weighted average amount of nickel deployed per passenger vehicle battery was 12.6 kg in November 2024, down 16% from November 2023. While European EV sales are expected to recover this year as tougher emission rules kick in, North American sales face the challenge of Donald Trump rolling back the Biden administration's EV subsidy scheme. SUPPLY DISCIPLINE Indonesia has made no secret of its desire to leverage its nickel supply dominance into pricing dominance. It now has that power. The key question for the nickel market is how it will use that power. The cut to this year's ore quotas suggests that Jakarta knows the price has fallen too far even for some of its own producers. The trick will be tailoring production rates to a fast-evolving EV battery demand dynamic. Without supply discipline from the world's dominant producer, a sustained nickel price recovery will remain elusive. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/only-indonesia-can-help-nickel-recover-price-bust-andy-home-2025-01-22/