2025-01-02 11:45

OSLO, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Chinese electric cars have surged to account for almost 10% of new car sales in Norway in only five years, data from the country's road federation (OFV) showed on Thursday. Wealthy Norway is far ahead of most countries in the switch to electric vehicles and unlike the European Union and the United States has not imposed import tariffs on Chinese EVs. Brussels and Washington say Chinese EVs benefit from unfair subsidies, which Beijing denies, and Western automakers have warned they could be hit hard by cheap Chinese imports, although there have been doubts if buyers would adopt unfamiliar brands. In Norway, the combined market share of Chinese manufacturers such as MG, part of SAIC Motor (600104.SS) , opens new tab, BYD (002594.SZ) , opens new tab and XPeng (9868.HK) , opens new tab increased to 8.8% last year, up from 5.1% in 2023 and 4.1% in 2021, according to Reuters calculations based on OFV data , opens new tab on the top 20 car brands sold. The first Chinese EV to arrive in Norway, from MG, was shipped only five years ago, in January 2020. "The Norwegian car market is probably one of the toughest in the world," said Christina Bu, head of the Norwegian EV association. "There's fierce competition." Starting in November 2024, the EU increased import duties , opens new tab on Chinese EVs to up to 45.3%. "We treat all countries alike," said Norway's deputy transport minister Cecilie Knibe Kroglund. The Nordic country is not part of the EU. The EU's move followed a decision by the United States to increase import tariffs on Chinese EVs to 100% of their value in 2024 from 25% before. China became the world's top car exporter in 2023, selling some 1.2 million EVs worldwide. ($1 = 11.3841 Norwegian crowns) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/chinese-electric-vehicles-gain-market-share-norway-2025-01-02/

2025-01-02 11:40

JAKARTA, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Indonesia named five tin firms as "corporate suspects" in an illegal mining case linked to state mining firm PT Timah (TINS.JK) , opens new tab, the office of Attorney General said on Thursday. Tin companies PT Refined Bangka Tin (RBT), PT Stanindo Inti Perkasa, PT Tinindo Inter Nusa, PT Sariwiguna Binasentosa and CV Venus Inti Perkasa have been named as of Dec. 31, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) said in a statement. The companies allegedly colluded with former executives at PT Timah between 2018 and 2019 to accommodate illegal tin mining activities at Timah's concession and created fake smelting transactions, according to the statement. Any formal charges would be filed at a later date, under the Indonesian legal system. Calls to the offices of RBT were not answered. Tinindo did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. The three other companies, as well as legal representatives of all of the companies, could not be reached immediately. In the same case, an Indonesian court in December sentenced a former chief executive of RBT and a former chief executive of Timah each to eight years in prison, local media reported, without giving precise details. The AGO said state losses from the suspected illegal mining include around 29 trillion rupiah ($1.79 billion) for allegedly fictitious ore sales and smelting services. The suspected illegal mining also caused 271 trillion rupiah ($16.7 billion) in environmental damage, it said. ($1 = 16,190.0000 rupiah) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/indonesian-prosecutors-name-five-tin-mining-firms-accused-illegal-mining-2025-01-02/

2025-01-02 11:05

ETFs took in record $1.1 trillion in inflows in 2024 Arena is increasingly crowded Morningstar analyst sees possible record number of ETFs closing down in 2025 Jan 2 (Reuters) - U.S. exchange-traded funds could face more obstacles to their runaway growth in 2025 after a bumper year saw the products take in a record $1.1 trillion in inflows in 2024. The inflows were the most in the product's 35-year history and came close to doubling last year's figure of $597 billion. Analysts attribute the popularity of the products to a combination of the bull market in the U.S., where the lion's share of ETFs is based, the advent of innovative cryptocurrency and options-based products and the growing preference by investors for lower-cost, liquid ETFs over mutual funds. Now, while many believe ETFs will top 2024's records in 2025, they are cautiously eyeing a new set of challenges ranging from how to navigate an increasingly crowded ETF arena to the ever-present question of innovation. "I find myself thinking that new product development may have outstripped investor interest in some of the most complex of these strategies," said Bryan Armour, ETF analyst at Morningstar (MORN.O) , opens new tab. Not every product will 'land' with investors." Indeed, one of Armour's projections for 2025 is that the market is likely to see a record number of ETFs closing down. While asset managers shuttered some 186 funds in 2024 -- 91% of which had less than $250 million in assets -- Armour expects that figure to soar next year above the record of 253 set in 2023. "There has been so much product development, and a lot of ETFs won't survive to reach profitability simply because they don't have anything that's unique enough and appealing enough to pull in assets," Armour said. According to Cerulli Research, 2023 was the first year that saw the average lifespan of an ETF decline, and by early 2024 it had already fallen below 5 years. "Firms realize they have to be faster at closing down funds that don't attract assets and at redeploying their resources," said Matt Apkarian, associate director at Cerulli. Still, industry insiders say there are many reasons to be bullish about an industry that globally jumped to $14 trillion in assets as of Dec. 27, from $11.6 trillion as of December 31, 2023, according to industry research and consulting firm ETFGI. The number of new ETFs launched, including a dozen spot bitcoin products, reached 714 by the last full week of the year, said Matthew Bartolini, head of SPDR Americas Research at State Street Global Advisors. That compares to 543 launches in 2023 and 480 in 2021. The explosion in the number of ETFs can be traced in part to the surge in interest for products that use options to manage, limit or even accentuate risk. The proliferation of buffer and defined outcome ETFs, which use options to trade off upside potential for downside risk, or to hit a target return, is one of the biggest features of 2024. "We'll be venturing into that market in the first quarter of 2025 with a buffered ETF product," said Brendan McCarthy, global head of ETF distribution and capital markets at Goldman Sachs Capital Management. The two-year-old GraniteShares 2x Long Nvidia ETF (NVDL.O) , opens new tab, which offers investors double the daily return on Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab, rose 177% in 2024, attracting more than $3.5 billion in new assets during the year to bring total assets to nearly $6 billion. "There's no reason to think that $1 trillion isn't the new normal for inflows," said David Mann, global head of ETF product and capital markets at Franklin Templeton, who is marking his 22nd year developing new exchange-traded funds. "This has been a one-way train ride, and now the train is on the express track." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/etfs-could-face-obstacles-2025-after-bumper-year-2025-01-02/

2025-01-02 11:03

A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Dhara Ranasinghe. Don't be fooled by what might prove to be a positive start to the new year, with stock futures pointing to a strong opening on Wall Street on Thursday. For the last four years, the first trading day of the year has been a contrarian indicator, according to Deutsche Bank research, which notes the broad S&P 500 stock (.SPX) , opens new tab index ended each year in the opposite direction it moved on the first day. Take last year for instance, the S&P closed roughly 0.6% lower on the first trading day of 2024 but closed the year over 20% higher and notched up a two-year jump of about 53% - the strongest back-to-back annual performance since 1998. Instead of where stocks close on Thursday, more attention may be paid to the signals coming from markets in the final, albeit quieter, last two trading weeks of 2024 which saw some decisive selling. Investors liquidated global equity funds at the fastest rate in 15 years in the week to Dec. 18, according to LSEG Lipper data, in moves that can partly be explained by profit taking on stellar gains and also by the Federal Reserve's hawkish signal at its December meeting for fewer rate cuts and higher inflation. On the one hand, U.S. economic exceptionalism, bolstered by robust consumer spending and a resilient labour market, deregulation and hopes for a China rebound bode well for global markets in 2025. China's President Xi Jingping said on Tuesday in his New Year's address that the country would implement more proactive policies to promote growth in 2025. China's factory activity grew in December, according to the private-sector Caixin/S&P Global survey on Thursday, though at a slower than expected pace. On the flip side is the more cautious narrative that sticky inflation could force the Fed to pause rate cuts, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's plans for tariff hikes could hurt global economic growth just as political uncertainty in France and Germany dents confidence in the single-currency bloc. China stocks ended sharply lower on the first trading session of 2025, their weakest New Year start since 2016. Geopolitical risks are also on the worry list. Russian gas exports via Soviet-era pipelines running through Ukraine came to a halt on New Year's Day, marking the end of decades of Moscow's dominance over Europe's energy markets. The widely expected stoppage will not impact prices for consumers in the European Union though, unlike in 2022 when falling supplies from Russia sent prices to record highs, worsened a cost-of-living crisis and hit the bloc's competitiveness. Still, the move could be a potential issue for central European countries, analysts say, while the rise in European natural gas futures to a more than one-year high could add to inflationary pressures in the euro area. Ahead of the U.S. open, the dollar and U.S. Treasury yields edged down , , while oil prices were around a third of a percent firmer , . Key developments that should provide more direction to U.S. markets later on Thursday: - U.S. weekly mortgage market index, initial jobless claims - S&P Global U.S. December PMI (final) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/global-markets-view-usa-2025-01-02/

2025-01-02 10:53

MUMBAI, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Indian mills have produced 9.54 million metric tons of sugar since the season began on Oct. 1, down 15.5% year-on-year, a leading industry body said on Thursday, as cane yields fell in the three biggest producing states. Lower output in the world's second-largest sugar producer could eliminate the possibility of India allowing exports during the season ending in September 2025, supporting global sugar prices , . Sugar production in western state of Maharashtra fell 21.5% from a year ago in the first three months of 2024/25 to 3 million tons, while output in neighbouring Karnataka fell 18.1% to 2 million tons, Indian Sugar and Bio-Energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA) said in a statement. Production in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh fell 4.5% from a year ago to 3.28 million tons, the ISMA said. By the end of December, 493 sugar mills in the country had started crushing operations, compared to 512 during the same period a year ago, it said. Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh account for more than 80% of the country's total sugar production, with lower cane yields in these states prompting trade houses to reduce their output estimates for the 2024/25 season. Cane yields in Maharashtra and Karnataka have fallen due to last year's drought, while in Uttar Pradesh, red rot disease has reduced yields, said a senior industry official, who declined to be named. "The production is lower than our expectations. Exports now look difficult in the current season," the official said. The sugar industry seeks 2 million tons of exports, while the government says it may allow limited exports, if any surplus remains after ethanol needs are met. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/indian-sugar-output-down-155-yr-on-yr-cane-yields-fall-trade-body-says-2025-01-02/

2025-01-02 10:45

KYIV, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Moldova switched to using the euro from the dollar as the reference currency for the official exchange rate of the Moldovan lei, president Maia Sandu said on Thursday. "With over 60% of our trade and 70% of remittances in euro, the move strengthens our economic ties with the EU, bringing more stability and predictability for all Moldovans," Sandu said on X. The country's National Bank, in a statement published on Nov. 15, said that the switch from using the U.S. dollar reflected Moldova's economic shift towards the European Union market and would reduce fluctuations in the exchange rate. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/moldova-switches-reference-currency-euro-2025-01-02/