2024-12-31 09:25
SHANGHAI, Dec 31 (Reuters) - China will adjust the weightings of its yuan CFETS basket in 2025, the country's foreign exchange trade platform said on Tuesday. From Jan. 1, the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS), which is overseen by the central bank, will lower the U.S. dollar's weighting in the CFETS currency basket to 18.903% from 19.46%, cut the euro's weighting to 17.902% from 18.08%, and reduce the yen's weighting to 8.584% from 8.963%, according to an online statement. It will add Macau's pataca to the basket, bringing the total number of currencies in the CFETS basket to 25 next year. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/china-lower-dollar-euro-yen-weightings-cfets-yuan-basket-2025-2024-12-31/
2024-12-31 09:23
JOHANNESBURG, Dec 31 (Reuters) - South Africa's rand edged higher on Tuesday in thin-trading. At 0916 GMT, the rand traded at 18.7375 against the dollar , about 0.2% stronger than its previous close. "Moves are being exaggerated by the thin liquidity and we should see some stability return to the Rand come next week," said Andre Cilliers, currency strategist at TreasuryONE. On the stock market, the Top-40 (.JTOPI) , opens new tab index was little changed while the broader all-share (.JALSH) , opens new tab index was up about 0.2%. South Africa's benchmark 2030 government bond was flat, with the yield at 9.055%. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/south-african-rand-edges-higher-thin-trade-2024-12-31/
2024-12-31 07:46
Ukraine gas transit deal expires on Jan. 1 European gas price reaction is muted Russia lost EU gas markets to US, Norway, Qatar EU industrial decline exacerbated by loss of Russian gas MOSCOW, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Russian energy company Gazprom said it would pump a reduced volume of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Tuesday, the last day before the expiry of a deal that had kept the gas flowing throughout nearly three years of war. Barring a last-minute surprise deal, gas flows are likely to stop on Jan. 1 after the expiry of the five-year transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine, marking an almost complete loss of Moscow's once mighty hold over the European gas market. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Dec. 26 there was no time left this year to sign a new deal on the transit of gas via Ukraine. The remaining buyers of Russian gas such as Slovakia and Austria have arranged for alternative supplies and analysts foresee minimal market impact from the Russian gas flow stoppage. The price at the Title Transfer Facility, a virtual trading point in the Netherlands that is used as a benchmark for European natural gas prices, rose only slightly on Tuesday to 48.85 euros per megawatt hour by late morning. Stopping the gas flow would have a much bigger geopolitical significance. Moscow has lost its dominant share of gas supplies to countries in the European Union to rivals such as the United States, Qatar and Norway since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which prompted the EU to cut its dependence on Russian gas. Once the world's biggest gas exporter, state-controlled Gazprom recorded a $7 billion loss in 2023 alone, its first annual loss since 1999. For Europe, the loss of cheap Russian gas supplies contributed to a major economic slowdown, a spike in inflation and a worsening of a cost-of-living crisis. While Europe has been quick to find alternative energy sources, the loss of Russian gas has exacerbated long-term concerns about its declining global competitiveness and in particular about Germany's industrial future. IMPACT OF UKRAINE WAR Russia and the Soviet Union spent half a century building up a major share of the European gas market, which at its peak stood at 35%, but the war in Ukraine has all but destroyed that business for Gazprom. Most Russian gas routes to Europe are shut, including Yamal-Europe via Belarus and Nord Stream under the Baltic that was blown up in 2022. The Soviet-era pipeline via Ukraine brings gas from Siberia via the town of Sudzha - now under the control of Ukrainian soldiers - in Russia's Kursk region. It then flows through Ukraine to Slovakia. In Slovakia, the gas pipeline splits into branches going to the Czech Republic and Austria. Kyiv has refused to negotiate a new transit deal. Ukraine is giving up some $800 million a year in fees from Russia, while Gazprom will lose close to $5 billion in gas sales to Europe via Ukraine. The end of the transit deal is unlikely to cause a repeat of the 2022 EU gas price rally as the remaining volumes are relatively small. Russia shipped about 15 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas via Ukraine in 2023 - only 8% of peak Russian gas flows to Europe via various routes in 2018-2019. Gazprom said it would send 37.2 million cubic metres on Tuesday compared to 42.4 mcm on Monday. The halting of supplies via Ukraine will be a major blow to Moldova, a country that was once part of the Soviet Union. Hungary will continue to receive Russian gas from the south, via the TurkStream pipeline on the bed of the Black Sea, although it had been keen to keep the Ukrainian route as well. ($1 = 0.9601 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russia-reduces-gas-flow-via-ukraine-europe-last-day-expiring-deal-2024-12-31/
2024-12-31 06:39
MUAN COUNTY, South Korea, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Empty desks and a calendar marking days off after Christmas sit in a South Korean office where five co-workers once planned a holiday to Thailand which ended in tragedy on Sunday when their return Jeju Air flight crashed. The five female colleagues, who flew to Bangkok to celebrate promotions, were among the 179 people killed when flight 7C2216 crashed at the Muan International Airport in the deadliest air disaster on South Korean soil. Still in shock at the loss of their co-workers and friends, colleagues wearing black ribbons cried at their desks in the public education office on Tuesday, as they watched over a victim's empty desk. White chrysanthemums had been placed on the desk in mourning, while boxes with books and stationery awaited another victim who was supposed to move desks in the New Year. "It doesn't feel real," said Lee Dae-keun, an official at Jeollanamdo Office of Education who worked in the same department as one victim. "She is still lingering in my eyes. Whenever seeing flowers on that empty desk, ah, sadness rushes in." Reuters is not naming the victims at the request of colleagues who asked for privacy. The dead employees were an old group of work friends who had been looking forward to their long-awaited trip, said their co-workers. "As a colleague, she was really hard-working and nice, a kind colleague to others," Lee said with a sigh. "She always told me to stay happy and positive." Lee said he had gone to the airport with other co-workers to provide food or charge phones for their colleagues' bereaving families who were camping out. At the office, officials set up an altar where colleagues and neighbours came to pay condolences. Bowing in tears at the altar, Lee Kwi-sun, a school chef, vividly remembered her last moment of holding hands with another victim. "Our names are similar. We were like lost siblings that just met now. So we said to meet again, and held each other's hands and laughed and parted ways," she recalled. "I talked to her a lot personally and professionally, so this just breaks my heart," she said Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/empty-desks-tears-mark-five-colleagues-killed-south-korean-plane-crash-2024-12-31/
2024-12-31 06:38
Dec 31 (Reuters) - There will be no precious metals report on Wednesday, Jan. 1 as most markets will be closed for the New Year holiday. Reuters will resume coverage of the report on Thursday, Jan. 2. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/gold-track-best-year-over-decade-2024-12-31/
2024-12-31 06:00
Brent settles down 3% compared with final 2023 closing price Weak demand, ample supply could keep oil prices at $70 in 2025 US oil production hit record high in October, EIA says Trump could ramp up Iranian oil sanctions next year, tightening global supplies HOUSTON, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell around 3% in 2024, slipping for a second straight year, as the post-pandemic demand recovery stalled, China's economy struggled, and the U.S. and other non-OPEC producers pumped more crude into a well-supplied global market. Brent crude futures on Tuesday, the last trading day of the year, settled up 65 cents, or 0.88%, to $74.64 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled up 73 cents, or 1.03%, to $71.72 a barrel. The Brent benchmark settled down around 3% from its final 2023 closing price of $77.04, while WTI was roughly flat with last year's final settlement. In September, Brent futures closed below $70 a barrel for the first time since December 2021, and this year Brent broadly traded under highs seen in the past few years as the post-pandemic demand rebound and price shocks of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine began to fade. Oil will likely trade around $70 a barrel in 2025 on weak Chinese demand and rising global supplies, offsetting OPEC+-led efforts to shore up the market, a Reuters monthly poll showed on Tuesday. A weaker demand outlook in China in particular forced both the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the International Energy Agency (IEA) to cut their oil demand growth expectations for 2024 and 2025. The IEA sees the oil market entering 2025 in surplus, even after OPEC and its allies delayed their plan to start raising output until April 2025 against a backdrop of falling prices. U.S. oil production rose 259,000 barrels per day to a record high of 13.46 million bpd in October, as demand surged to the strongest levels since the pandemic, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed on Tuesday. Output is set to rise to a new record of 13.52 million bpd next year, the EIA said. ECONOMIC, REGULATORY OUTLOOK Investors will be watching the Federal Reserve's interest rate-cut outlook for 2025 after Fed bank policymakers this month projected a slower path due to stubbornly high inflation. Lower interest rates generally spur economic growth, which feeds energy demand. Some analysts still believe supply could tighten next year depending on President-elect Donald Trump's policies, including those on sanctions. He has called for an immediate ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war, and he could re-impose a so-called maximum pressure policy toward Iran, which could have major implications for oil markets. "With the possibility of tighter sanctions on Iranian oil with Trump coming in next month, we are looking at a much tighter oil market going into the new year," said Phil Flynn, a senior analyst for Price Futures Group, also citing firming Indian demand and recent stronger Chinese manufacturing data. China's manufacturing activity expanded for a third-straight month in December, though at a slower pace, suggesting a blitz of fresh stimulus is helping to support the world's second-largest economy. Buoying prices on Tuesday, the U.S. military said it carried out strikes against Houthi targets in Sanaa and coastal locations in Yemen on Monday and Tuesday. The Iran-backed militant group has been attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea for more than a year in solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel's year-long war in Gaza, threatening global oil flows. Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil stocks fell last week while fuel inventories rose, market sources said, citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday. Crude stocks fell by 1.4 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 27, the sources said on condition of anonymity. Gasoline inventories rose by 2.2 million barrels, and distillate stocks climbed by 5.7 million barrels, they said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-rises-expanding-chinese-factory-activity-set-end-year-lower-2024-12-31/
