2024-12-17 15:12
JOHANNESBURG, Dec 17 (Reuters) - South Africa's rand slipped against a stronger dollar on Tuesday, as investors turn their attention to the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision. At 0820 GMT, the rand traded at 17.93 against the greenback , about 0.4% weaker than its previous close. The dollar index was last trading up about 0.2% against a basket of currencies. The Fed will announce its interest rate decision on Wednesday, with markets expecting a 25 basis point cut, but the focus will also be on the central bank's tone on rates for the year ahead. "A conservative tone will likely support the USD and pressure EM (emerging market) currencies, including ZAR," said Andre Cilliers, Currency Strategist at TreasuryONE. On the stock market, the Top-40 (.JTOPI) , opens new tab index was down about 0.9%. South Africa's benchmark 2030 government bond was slightly weaker, with the yield up 1 basis point at 8.93%. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/south-african-rand-weakens-ahead-fed-decision-2024-12-17/
2024-12-17 14:53
Consumer price index was unchanged on a monthly basis BoC's preferred core measures for October revised up Black Friday discounts, mortgage costs helped CPI decline OTTAWA, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Canada's annual inflation rate unexpectedly dropped by a tick to 1.9% in November, driven by a broad-based slowdown in prices, while the consumer price index was unchanged on a monthly basis, data showed on Tuesday. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast that inflation would hold steady at the 2% rate recorded in October and the consumer price index would rise 0.1% month over month. The Canadian central bank's preferred measures of core inflation, CPI-median and CPI-trim, were unchanged, though the previous month's data were revised up by a notch. CPI-median - or the value at the middle of the set of price changes in a month - remained at 2.6%, and CPI-trim - which excludes the most extreme price changes - stayed at 2.7%. Economists noted that continued strength in core measures could be an issue for the Bank of Canada, which has said that with inflation coming down consistently, it was important for the bank to ease rates to prop up the economy. "While the Bank of Canada will welcome the renewed dip below 2% for headline inflation, they would prefer that the sticky core trends stayed away this holiday season," said Douglas Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets. The bank has forecast core inflation to average at 2.3% for the fourth quarter but it is currently trending around 2.7% roughly. Tuesday's data was the first of two inflation reports the BoC will get to assess before its next rate decision on Jan. 29. The central bank has cut interest rates by 50 basis points at each of its last two policy announcements to bring the cumulative reduction in borrowing costs to 175 basis points since June. This has helped restrict the rise in consumer prices to the mid-point of its desired target range of 1-3% for several months. BoC Governor Tiff Macklem indicated last week that further rate cuts would be more gradual. Currency market see a 55% chance of another cut of 25 basis points in January. The Canadian dollar was trading down 0.27% to 1.4280 against the greenback, or 70.03 U.S. cents. While prices for travel tours were a leading contributor in the small decline in headline inflation, cost of travel services declined less in November than in October, Statscan said, noting that higher hotel prices coincided with a series of high-profile concerts in the month. Black Friday discounts by retailers in November also led to drop in overall inflation numbers, Statscan said. Mortgage interest cost inflation, the other top contributor to the slower headline figure, continued its deceleration for 15 months in a row. Prices for rent accelerated in November by 7.7% compared with October's rise of 7.3%. Grocery prices rose 2.6% on an annual basis in November, down from 2.7% in the month earlier. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/canadas-inflation-rate-ticks-down-19-november-2024-12-17/
2024-12-17 14:45
NAIROBI, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Kenya has further extended an oil supply deal with three Gulf firms that has helped to relieve pressure on its shilling currency , it said on Tuesday. The deal with Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC.UL) and Emirates National Oil Company was initially agreed in March last year and was extended in September 2023 until this month. The Cabinet said in a statement outlining decisions made in its latest meeting that it had approved another extension, but did not say for how long it would run. Supplies from the three firms allowed Kenya to switch from the previous petroleum procurement system that relied on an open tender in which local companies would bid to import oil every month. The arrangement with the Gulf firms comes with 180-day credit terms, allowing the country to build up dollars for the purchase over time rather than requiring about $500 million every month to pay for imports. The Cabinet said in a statement: "This arrangement has eased the monthly demand for U.S. dollars for petroleum imports, stabilising the shilling-dollar exchange rate." The agreement had also helped reduce pump prices for consumers, it added. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/kenya-extends-petroleum-supply-deal-with-gulf-firms-2024-12-17/
2024-12-17 12:51
LONDON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Investor allocations to U.S. equities has hit a record high this month, at the expense of European stocks, commodities and cash, according to a December survey from BofA Global Research. This shift, according to a survey of 171 participants with $420 billion of assets under management, is on the back of U.S. growth optimism, bets that Donald Trump's second term as president will bring in tax cuts and deregulation, and looming rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. Allocation to cash are at its lowest since at least April 2001, to commodities, at the lowest since June 2017 and investors have the biggest underweight in European stocks since October 2022. That means investors are the most overweight U.S. equities relative to the euro zone since June 2012, the time of the sovereign debt crisis in the single-currency bloc. (This story has been corrected to change the year to 2001, not 2021, in paragraph 3) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/investor-allocations-us-equities-record-high-cash-record-low-bofa-says-2024-12-17/
2024-12-17 12:46
Dec 17 (Reuters) - Talos Energy (TALO.N) , opens new tab said on Tuesday it would terminate its so-called poison pill after it reached an agreement with Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's investment firm that it would not exceed a threshold of 25% ownership in the oil and gas firm. In October, the company had adopted the shareholders rights plan after Slim's Control Empresarial De Capitales accumulated 24% of Talos' common stock. Poison pill, or shareholders rights plan, is often used by corporates to thwart hostile takeover bids. Talos said on Tuesday it has entered into an agreement with Slim's firm that through Dec. 16, 2025 it would not acquire additional shares of Talos common stock, which would cause the investor group's holdings to exceed 25%. Separately, Houston, Texas-based Talos said it would sell an additional 30.1% interest in its Mexico unit to Zamajal — owned 90% by Grupo Carso and 10% by Control Empresarial, both of which are backed by Carlos Slim. Last year, the unit of Grupo Carso had purchased a 49.9% stake in Talos Mexico. After the deal closes, Talos Energy will own 20% in Talos Mexico, while the rest will be held by Zamajal. Talos Energy will receive $49.7 million in cash, with an additional $33 million due upon first commercial production from the Zama Field. The Mexican subsidiary of Talos Energy, which discovered the Zama Field in 2017, controls 17.4% of the potentially lucrative deposit in Mexican territorial waters in the Gulf of Mexico. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/talos-energy-terminate-poison-pill-after-agreement-with-carlos-slims-firm-2024-12-17/
2024-12-17 12:32
Two fuel oil tankers damaged in storm on Sunday Third ship sends distress signal Emergency declared at several locations Scale of fuel spillage is being determined MOSCOW, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Spilled oil has washed up along "tens of kilometres" of the Russian Black Sea coast after two tankers were badly damaged in a storm at the weekend, a regional official said on Tuesday, and state media said a third ship was now in trouble. TASS news agency said the third tanker had issued a distress signal but its hull was still intact, there was no oil spillage and the crew was safe. RIA news agency said the tanker, Volgoneft 109, was safely stationed near the port of Kavkaz in the Kerch Strait, which runs between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The first ship, the Volgoneft 212, split in half on Sunday in the strait. The second, the Volgoneft 239, ran aground 80 metres (87 yards) from the shore near the port of Taman on the east side of the strait. The ships, both more than 50 years old, were carrying some 9,200 metric tons (62,000 barrels) of oil products in total, TASS reported, raising fears it could become one of the largest environmental disasters to hit the region in years. A certificate seen by Reuters showed the third tanker was built in 1973 and was part of the same ageing fleet. Veniamin Kondratyev, governor of the southern Krasnodar region, said fuel oil had been found along the coast between the towns of Temryuk and Anapa. "This morning, while monitoring the shoreline, stains of fuel oil were discovered. Oil products washed ashore for several tens of kilometres," he said. Authorities said a local state of emergency had been declared at four settlements in Temryuk district and one village in Anapa district because of spilled oil on the shoreline. A video posted by Zvezda TV showed a black, oil-like substance along the coast at Anapa, and tarry stains along a beach strewn with tree branches. TASS news agency, citing a scientist, said the nearby Kerch Strait, which separates Russia's Krasnodar region from the Crimean peninsula that Moscow annexed from Crimea in 2014, is an important area for migrating dolphins and other sea mammals. "You can say they hit a key place," Dmitry Glazov of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution was quoted as saying. A video broadcast by state TV channel Vesti showed several birds covered with oil flapping their wings and struggling to fly. The Kerch Strait is a key route for exports of Russian grain and fuel products. Russia's Natural Resources and Ecology Ministry said on Monday that fuel oil had leaked into the sea, but the scale of the spillage was still not clear. Natural Resources and Ecology Minister Alexander Kozlov said some of the fuel oil could have sunk to the seabed due to cold weather. One member of the Volgoneft 212's crew was killed in Sunday's accident, while all 14 people on the Volgoneft 239 were rescued. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/oil-washes-up-russias-black-sea-coast-after-tankers-damaged-governor-says-2024-12-17/
