2024-12-04 09:48
LONDON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey reiterated in an interview published on Wednesday that gradual cuts in interest rates are likely over the next year, adding that the process of falling inflation is well embedded. "This sort of disinflation process is now well embedded," Bailey told the Financial Times Global Boardroom event. "There is still a distance to travel because although inflation came down to target over the summer, we've been saying for a while that... we were probably going to go back a bit above target," he said. British inflation jumped by more than expected in October to rise back above the BoE's 2% target and underlying price growth gathered speed too. Sterling fell against the U.S. dollar after the FT reported Bailey as saying the BoE expected four interest rate cuts next year. In the interview, he said that had been the expectation of financial markets when the BoE incorporated them into its most recent economic forecasts. Asked whether companies should expect four rate cuts next year, Bailey said: "We always condition what we publish in terms of the projection on market rates, and so as you rightly say, that was effectively the view the market had - we emphasised in that report the word 'gradual'." Bailey said estimating the impact on inflation from a possible increase in protectionism and rising trade tariffs once Donald Trump returns to the White House was "not straightforward at all". "It moves traded prices. But of course, it also depends on how other countries react to them. It depends on how exchange rates react to them as well. So the effect is not at all straightforward to predict," Bailey said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-homeowners-businesses-resilient-high-interest-rates-boe-says-2024-03-27/
2024-12-04 09:24
Dec 4 (Reuters) - Russia's finance ministry on Wednesday said it would increase the volume of its deferred foreign currency and gold purchases in the coming six weeks. The purchases are deferred because the central bank last week stopped buying foreign currency until the end of the year to ease pressure on financial markets as the rouble tumbled to multi-month lows. The deferred purchases will be carried out next year, the finance ministry said, with the central bank to determine how and when a resumption will be made. The ministry said its purchases of foreign currencies and gold for the period from Dec. 6 to Jan. 14, which includes Russia's long New Year holidays, would amount to the equivalent of 114.4 billion roubles ($1.09 billion), or 5.4 billion roubles a day. In the previous period, between Nov. 7 and Dec. 5, the ministry had planned to buy foreign currency worth 87.5 billion roubles, or 4.2 billion roubles a day. Since Western sanctions imposed over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine have blocked Russia from using the dollar and euro, it has made FX interventions using China's yuan. The ministry's FX interventions are carried out by the central bank, which is also conducting its own interventions: sales of yuan at the equivalent of 8.4 billion roubles a day. Russia sells foreign currency from its rainy day National Wealth Fund under its budget rule to make up for any shortfall in revenue from oil and gas exports or makes purchases in the event of a surplus. The central bank halted interventions in 2022 as Russia's currency markets gyrated following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and again in August 2023 as the rouble tumbled past 100 to the dollar. Planned interventions in 2023 were deferred to 2024. The rouble slumped to almost 115 to the dollar last week, but has steadied near 105 since then, thanks in part to the central bank's move on interventions. ($1 = 104.9000 roubles) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/russian-finance-ministry-increase-deferred-daily-fx-purchases-2024-12-04/
2024-12-04 07:58
DUBAI, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Saudi oil giant Aramco, top oilfield services company SLB and Linde, the world's largest industrial gases company, have signed an agreement to build a carbon capture and storage project in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Aramco (2222.SE) , opens new tab will own 60% of the project while SLB (SLB.N) , opens new tab and Linde (LIN.DE) , opens new tab will hold 20% each, the companies said in a joint statement on Wednesday. The first phase is expected to be complete by the end of 2027, capturing and storing up to 9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. The project is intended to help Aramco to reach its target of net zero emissions from its operations by 2050. Saudi Arabia has a net zero target of 2060. Captured carbon dioxide will be transported through pipelines to be stored below ground in a saline aquifer sink. The three companies had signed a preliminary agreement on the project in November 2022. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/aramco-slb-linde-plan-build-carbon-capture-project-2024-12-04/
2024-12-04 07:56
JAKARTA, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Freeport Indonesia's holding company MIND ID said on Wednesday it was aiming to get the copper miner's new Manyar smelter in East Java province repaired within six months after the facility was damaged in a fire. Freeport Indonesia halted copper cathode output at the smelter after a fire at its gas cleaning unit in October. Long production delays at the Manyar smelter, with an output capacity of 480,000 metric tons of copper cathode a year, were already narrowing an expected 2025 surplus of the metal and supporting prices. "We are hoping for your support," Hendi Prio Santoso, chief executive of Mining Industry Indonesia (MIND ID), told a parliamentary hearing. MIND ID holds a 51.2% share of Freeport Indonesia. "Hopefully in less than six months it will operate normally," he said. The $3.7 billion Manyar copper smelter was completed in June and started output in September. However, production was delayed until November by a steam and water leak. Operational issues at the smelter prompted Freeport to ask the Indonesian government to extend its copper concentrate export licence, which expires at the end of 2024, mining minister Bahlil Lahadalia told an industry summit on Wednesday. He said the government had not decided whether to approve the request. Sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters after the fire that U.S. mining company Freeport McMoRan (FCX.N) , opens new tab, which operates Freeport Indonesia's mine and smelter, would postpone sales of refined copper from Indonesia until the second quarter of 2025. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/mind-id-says-freeport-indonesias-smelter-be-fixed-within-6-months-2024-12-04/
2024-12-04 07:39
KOSPI falls, foreigners net sellers Korean won strengthens against US dollar South Korea benchmark bond yield rises For the midday report, please click SEOUL, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets: ** South Korean shares declined on Wednesday after the nation's president declared martial law and then rescinded it hours later in the biggest political crisis in decades in Asia's fourth-largest economy. ** The won partially recovered after a sharp drop earlier, while the benchmark bond yield rose. ** The KOSPI (.KS11) , opens new tab closed down 36.10 points, or 1.44%, at 2,464.00. ** Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) , opens new tab fell 0.93%, while peer SK Hynix (000660.KS) , opens new tab gained 1.88%. Battery maker LG Energy Solution (373220.KS) , opens new tab slid 2.02%. ** South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday said he would lift the surprise martial law declaration he had imposed just hours before, backing down in a standoff with parliament which roundly rejected his attempt to ban political activity and censor the media. ** The finance ministry said it was ready to deploy "unlimited" liquidity into financial markets in the wake of the political crisis that sent the won diving to multi-year lows. ** Hyundai (005380.KS) , opens new tab slipped 2.56%, while sister automaker Kia (000270.KS) , opens new tab gained 0.10%. Search engine Naver (035420.KS) , opens new tab lost 3.11%, while instant messenger Kakao (035720.KS) , opens new tab jumped 8.50%. ** Of the total 938 traded issues, 176 advanced and 737 declined. ** Foreigners net sold shares worth 408.8 billion won ($290 million) on the main board. ** The KOSPI has fallen 7.20% so far this year, losing 2.7% in the previous 30 trading sessions. ** The won has lost 8.7% against the U.S. dollar so far this year. ** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.08 point to 106.79. ** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose 3.2 basis points to 2.621%, while the benchmark 10-year yield added 5.3 basis points to 2.759%. ($1 = 1,409.5900 won) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/south-korea-stocks-slide-president-yoons-failed-martial-law-bid-stokes-turmoil-2024-12-04/
2024-12-04 07:12
Presidential and legislative elections set for Dec. 7 Economic woes undermine support for ruling party Opposition leader Mahama favoured in polls Tensions may rise as votes are counted ACCRA, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Public frustration over Ghana's economic travails, including high prices and a dearth of jobs, has dominated the run-up to Saturday's general election, which will likely test the nation's longstanding democratic credentials. Support for outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo and his ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) party has sunk in his second term amid the West African nation's worst economic crisis in a generation, along with cost-of-living protests and turmoil in its vital cocoa and gold industries. Indeed, the clamour for change has tipped the presidential and legislative race firmly in favour of opposition leader John Dramani Mahama and his National Democratic Congress party, polls show, though voter patience with the political process is running low. "The country is ruined. I will vote but I don't think it will change anything," said 18-year-old high school graduate Emmanuel Kwaku Jr, who will be casting his ballot for the first time. An October survey by pan-African research group Afrobarometer found 82% of Ghanaians felt the country was headed in the wrong direction and less than half expected change for the better in the next year. "We have the trappings of democracy: we do the elections every four years, yet the dividends ... are low," said Abena Tekyiwaa Manuh, senior fellow of the Accra-based Centre for Democratic Governance (CDD). "That's dangerous." Ghana's commitment to two-term limits for presidents and largely peaceful transfers of powers have increasingly made it an outlier in a region swept by coups and constitutional shenanigans in recent years. But whoever wins the election will be under pressure to deliver on campaign promises to improve the livelihoods of citizens, or the largely youthful population could begin to wonder if democracy is overrated, said Manuh and two western diplomats. "We see a lot of anger among the youth, a sense of hopelessness but also a sense of change. If that doesn’t happen at the elections, what will happen?" asked one of the diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity. "There is growing concern Ghana’s peace and democracy is fragile." A 'TRICKY PHASE' Twelve candidates are vying for the presidency, with Mahama and the ruling party's Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia seen as the main contenders. Both have vowed to turn the page on economic instability since 2020 that saw inflation soar above 50%, the International Monetary Fund wade in with a $3 billion bailout, and a mass restructuring of Ghana's debts. Polls open for the 18.7 million registered voters at 0700 GMT and close at 1700, with legislative results due by early on Monday and presidential results by Tuesday, although trends often allow the outcome to be called early. The vote results period "is going to be a tricky phase" as tensions may rise due to low trust in institutions, including the electoral commission, said Jonas Claes, elections lead for the EU delegation in Ghana. Mahama and his party have repeatedly questioned the commission's ability to deliver credible elections, alleging voter roll irregularities and other issues. Bawumia and the ruling NPP say the allegations show Mahama is preparing to reject the results if they do not go his way. "I don't think widespread violence is to be expected, but it's difficult to be 100% sure," Claes said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/discontent-runs-high-ghana-readies-vote-saturday-2024-12-04/
