2025-01-13 11:08

Barrick Gold has been in dispute with Mali since 2023 Mine site has around 4 tons of gold stocked, says employee Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger seek bigger revenues BAMAKO/DAKAR Jan 13 (Reuters) - Mali's government has begun enforcing a provisional order to seize gold stock at Barrick Gold's Loulo-Gounkoto site, the Canadian miner said in a note to Malian staff, warning again that it may have to suspend operations at the complex. The move suggests that Mali's military-led authorities are not ready to back down in a standoff over a contract based on new mining rules as they push for a greater share of revenues from Western miners. "A provisional order to seize our existing gold stock was issued last week and the Malian government began its enforcement on Jan. 11," Barrick said in the staff memo. Two Barrick employees in Mali and a consultant working for mining companies confirmed the authenticity of the letter seen by Reuters. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the employees said it was sent to staff on Sunday. Barrick has not said what volume of gold is at risk, but one of the employees said Loulo-Gounkoto's stock was around 4 metric tons, citing internal estimates. This amounts to nearly $380 million, based on spot gold prices on Monday. Responding to a request for comment, Barrick said it had nothing to add beyond what it said in a Jan. 6 statement. In that statement, the world's second-biggest gold miner by volume had warned that it would have to suspend operations at Loulo-Gounkoto temporarily if restrictions on its gold shipments were not lifted within the week. The threat remains on the table. In Sunday's note to staff, Barrick said "if the situation is not resolved quickly" it may be forced to follow through on the suspension. The Malian authorities did not immediately respond when asked to comment. Loulo-Gounkoto accounts for around 14% of Barrick's 2025 estimated gold output. Meanwhile gold is Mali's top foreign currency earner, accounting for more than 80% of total exports in 2023. The dispute comes at a delicate time for many Western miners in West Africa, industry insiders say. Military governments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are all trying to renegotiate terms to gain a bigger share of mining revenues after a series of coups that have seen them shift away from their traditional backers France, the United States and the United Nations towards Russia and elsewhere. Mali, Africa's second-largest gold producer, has issued an arrest warrant for Barrick Chief Executive Mark Bristow and detained Barrick staff. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/mali-begins-enforcing-gold-seizure-order-barrick-site-company-memo-shows-2025-01-13/

2025-01-13 11:03

LONDON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The British pound extended its recent drop against the dollar and the euro on Monday driven by investor concerns about Britain's fiscal sustainability as gilt yields rose for a sixth straight day. Sterling fell as much as 0.7% against the dollar to $1.21, its lowest level since November 2023. It was last at $1.2124. Against the euro , the pound was down 0.3% at 84.13 pence. The pound has been in the crosshairs of global currency traders with British markets hit by surging bond yields, a move which originated from the United States due to concerns about rising inflation and lower chances of rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. Strong U.S. labour market data released on Friday added momentum to the upward march of global bond yields, with money markets no longer fully pricing in any rate cut from the Fed this year. While higher yields often support the currency, in Britain analysts expect higher borrowing costs may force the government to rein in spending or raise taxes to meet its fiscal rules, potentially weighing on future growth. "Clearly something is coming to a head and it's not because of anything the UK has done over the last two weeks, it's because of the sensitivity of the UK's fiscal dynamics to rates and inflation," said Dominic Bunning, head of G10 FX strategy at Nomura. "The question for me is if yields start to stabilise, is that enough of a respite that this sell-off starts to slow or takes a bit of a breather?" Britain's 10-year gilt yield was up 1.5 basis points on Monday at 4.855%, just below last week's high of 4.925%, its highest since 2008. It rose over 24 basis points last week, its biggest weekly rise in a year. Bond yields move inversely to prices. Britain's 30-year yield rose to its highest level in 27 years on Monday to 5.472%. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday said the government would stick to the fiscal rules set out in finance minister Rachel Reeves' October budget, and that he has full confidence in her. There was little immediate market reaction to his comments. Reeves gave herself only a small margin of error for meeting her target of balancing spending on public serves with tax revenues by the end of the decade. The recent rise in borrowing costs and sluggish UK growth data in the second half of 2024 makes reaching that target increasingly difficult. Attention this week was also likely to be on British inflation data on Wednesday. Consumer prices are expected to have risen 2.6% annually in December, in line with November, but core CPI is forecast to have moderated to 3.4% from 3.5%. "This week's release of the December UK CPI data will be crucial in fine-tuning expectations around the risk of a rate cut next month," said Rabobank senior FX strategist Jane Foley. "Heightened expectations of a February BoE rate cut would likely put the GBP/USD 1.20 level in view." Futures markets are pricing in around 16 basis points of easing at the BoE's February meeting, implying around a 65% chance of a quarter-point rate cut. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/sterling-14-month-low-gilt-yields-rise-again-2025-01-13/

2025-01-13 10:57

Rouble also weakens against yuan, most traded foreign currency in Russia US imposed more sanctions on Russia on Friday Finance ministry announcement on Friday supported the rouble MOSCOW, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble eased against the U.S. dollar and China's yuan on Monday as rising oil prices and increased forex sales by the state cushioned the impact of new U.S. sanctions designed to curb Russia's oil and gas revenue. The rouble was down 0.7% at 102.45 against the dollar by 1000 GMT, over-the-counter market data showed. The rouble weakened 0.8% to 13.81 against the yuan in trading on the Moscow Stock Exchange (MOEX). The yuan has become the most traded foreign currency in Russia, with China using it to pay for energy imports from Russia. The U.S. Treasury on Jan. 10 imposed sanctions on Russian oil producers Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz, as well as 183 vessels that have shipped Russian oil. Oil prices have since risen above $81 a barrel, the highest in more than four months. The rouble drew support from an announcement by the Finance Ministry on Friday that implied net forex sales by the state would rise by almost one third to 4.76 billion roubles ($46.42 million) per day from Jan. 15. Under a complex scheme of foreign currency operations, the central bank buys and sells forex 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 central bank cannot buy and sell dollars and euros because of Western sanctions, making the yuan the clear choice for forex interventions. The central bank propped up the rouble last December by deferring purchases of foreign currency on behalf of the finance ministry. The rouble touched its lowest in around 2-1/2 years in November in response to the previous U.S. sanctions package. It has since regained some of the lost ground and stabilised at around 100 to the U.S. dollar, a level seen as a new equilibrium by the market. Analysts said expectations of Russia-U.S. talks, flagged by the incoming administration, also supported the rouble. "Geopolitics will remain the key factor influencing the rouble's exchange rate in the near future," T-Bank analysts said. One-day rouble/dollar futures, which trade on MOEX and are a guide for the over-the-counter exchange rate, were up 0.5% at 103.53. The Russian central bank set the official exchange rate at 101.91. ($1 = 102.5500 roubles) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/russian-rouble-slips-oil-price-forex-action-limit-sanctions-impact-2025-01-13/

2025-01-13 10:12

MUMBAI, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee slumped to a fresh all time-low and logged its biggest single-day decline in nearly two years on Monday, bogged down by a surging U.S. dollar, likely outflows from local equities and limited intervention from the central bank. The rupee declined to 86.5825 before ending the session at 86.5750, down 0.7% on the day. The last time it fell this much was in February 2023. The local currency has declined over 2% since December on worries over India's slowing growth and expectations that central bank may cut rates as soon as February. "The rupee's slide can continue for some time as negative factors have stacked up quite a bit unless the central bank announces some measures," said Anshul Chandak, head of treasury at RBL Bank. Chandak reckons the 87 handle is "just around the corner," for the rupee and expects the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to use its diminished reserves "cautiously." India's foreign exchange reserves dropped to $634.6 billion in the week through Jan. 3, an over 10-month low, and down $70 billion from a peak hit in late September. The country's FX reserves saw the biggest drawdown in percentage terms in Asia in December, as per Nomura's calculations. The RBI has been intervening to slow down the rupee's decline, selling dollars in the spot and the forward market. The RBI sold dollars on Monday, but less aggressively than previous episodes of sharp rupee weakness, traders said. GLOBAL PRESSURES The rupee's weakness is in line with Asian currencies, which were struggling on the heels of the dollar index climbing to an over two-year peak. The U.S. economy added more jobs than expected in December, reinforcing expectations that borrowing costs in the U.S. will likely remain higher for longer, boosting the dollar and pushing U.S. Treasury yields to multi-month highs. The dollar has been rallying in the lead up to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20. Higher U.S. yields have prompted investors to exit riskier assets, sending the benchmark Indian equity indexes, the BSE Sensex (.BSESN) , opens new tab and the Nifty 50 (.NSEI) , opens new tab, down 1.2% each on Monday. Foreign investors are exiting their Indian investments and have sold over $4 billion of domestic stocks and bonds in January so far. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/rupee-set-worst-day-two-years-dollars-surge-limited-central-bank-presence-2025-01-13/

2025-01-13 09:41

NAIROBI, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Kenya's shilling was stable against the U.S. dollar on Monday, data from the London Stock Exchange Group showed. At 0937 GMT, the shilling traded at 129.25/129.75 per dollar, the same as Friday's closing level. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/kenyan-shilling-stable-vs-dollar-lseg-data-shows-2025-01-13/

2025-01-13 09:33

KAMPALA, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The Ugandan shilling was little-changed against the dollar on Monday, although the local unit was under a little pressure as the manufacturing sector sought foreign currency, traders said. At 0922 GMT commercial banks quoted the shilling at 3,694/3,704, compared to Friday's close of 3,692/3,702. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/ugandan-shilling-little-changed-slight-pressure-manufacturing-sector-2025-01-13/