2025-12-26 11:41

MOSCOW, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy aide spoke to members of the U.S. administration after Moscow received U.S. proposals about a possible Ukrainian peace deal, the Kremlin said on Friday. Kremlin foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, spoke by telephone to several members of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. He did not say when the call took place. Sign up here. Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev brought paper copies of U.S. proposals for peace back to Moscow after a meeting in Miami at the weekend - and the details were being analysed by the Kremlin, Peskov said. "The information was analysed, and on behalf of President Putin, contact took place between representatives of the administrations of Russia and the United States," Peskov said. "It was agreed to continue the dialogue." When asked how the Kremlin viewed the documents, Peskov said that he did not want to comment as Russia felt making remarks in public could undermine the negotiations. Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported that Putin told some of Russia's top businessmen that he might be open to swapping some territory controlled by Russian forces in Ukraine but that he wanted the whole of Donbas. Asked about the report, Peskov said that the Ukrainian peace discussions were touched upon "in general" and mentioned at the meeting. He gave no further details on the details of what was discussed. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-sends-signal-trump-ukraine-proposals-2025-12-26/

2025-12-26 11:20

Dec 29 (Reuters) - Silver surged past $80 an ounce for the first time on Monday, propelled by strong industrial and investment demand, persistent supply shortfalls, its recent designation as a U.S. critical mineral and a wave of momentum-driven buying. Prices were down 4.2% by 0830 GMT, retreating from a record peak of $83.62 earlier in the session as investors booked profits while easing geopolitical tensions curbed safe-haven demand. Sign up here. Spot silver has climbed more than 160% year on year, significantly outpacing gold's gain of more than 70%. So how does silver trade? OVER THE COUNTER The biggest marketplace for physical silver (and gold) is London, where banks and brokers handle buy and sell orders from clients across the world. Trading is done bilaterally over the counter (OTC) between financial institutions, and an investor must have a relationship with one of these to access the market. The market is underpinned by bars of bullion which sit in the vaults of large banks such as JPMorgan and HSBC. As of the end of November 2025, London vaults held 27,187  tons of silver. FUTURES Silver also trades on futures exchanges. The largest are the Shanghai Futures Exchange in China and CME Group's COMEX in New York. Futures are contracts in which the seller pledges to deliver silver to the buyer on a later date. They are typically traded through a broker. Most futures are not held until delivery but swapped for later-dated ones. This allows both buyer and seller to speculate on the silver price without the trouble of moving and storing metal. Another advantage of futures is that the holder need not pay the full amount for silver, but instead pays a fraction of its value, known as a margin. EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS (ETFs) ETFs trade on stock exchanges such as the NYSE and LSE alongside shares in publicly traded companies. They store silver for their investors, with each share in the fund representing an amount of silver stored in a vault. Small investors can trade shares in ETFs easily via apps such as Robinhood. If demand for the ETF is strong enough to push the price above that of the underlying metal, more silver is moved into the vault to allow new shares to be created, moving the prices back into line. The largest is the iShares Silver Trust , run by investment manager BlackRock, which contains around 529 million ounces of silver worth some $39 billion at current prices. BARS AND COINS Smaller investors can also buy silver bars and coins from retailers around the world. SILVER MINERS Investors can also buy shares in companies that mine silver. Like ETFs, these are easy to trade on platforms like Robinhood. Shares in these companies tend to rise and fall with silver prices, but many other factors such as the company's management, debt or performance also affect their value. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/how-silver-is-traded-stocks-shares-coins-bars-2025-12-26/

2025-12-26 11:12

MOSCOW, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Russia's central bank said on Friday that it will halve its own forex interventions from the new year in an expected move that will take away some support for the rouble in 2026, with economists expecting the rouble to weaken. The combined forex sales by the central bank and the Finance Ministry were one of the factors behind the rouble's strength in 2025 and were criticized by exporting firms, whose earnings were hit by the rouble's 45% rally this year. Sign up here. The central bank said that in the first half of 2026 it will sell foreign currency worth 4.62 billion roubles ($59.81 million) a day, down from 8.94 billion roubles now. The move will reduce the state's overall forex sales, which include the central bank's own operations and transactions on behalf of the budget reserve National Wealth Fund (NWF), by 30% to 10.22 billion roubles from January 12. The new volumes will be in force until January 15 when the Finance Ministry will announce new monthly targets for the NWF, which buys forex when the budget has excess energy revenues and sells it to cover the deficit when energy revenues are low. "This is one of the factors that we expect will contribute to the weakening of the rouble, along with declining export prices and the easing of the central bank's monetary policy," said T-Bank's chief economist Sofya Donets. The government refrained from tapping the NWF to cover the deficit in the second half of 2025, preferring domestic borrowing instead, despite monthly oil and gas revenue expected to hit the lowest since August 2020 this month. It is expected to stick to this policy in 2026, provided there is no further fall in energy revenues as a result of a decline in global prices or more Western sanctions in case talks to reach a peaceful settlement in Ukraine yield no results. The rouble did not show a significant reaction, strengthening by 0.4% to 77.7 against the U.S. dollar in over-the-counter trade and trading flat at 11.04 against China's yuan at the Moscow Exchange. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/russian-central-bank-cuts-own-forex-sales-2026-withdrawing-some-support-rouble-2025-12-26/

2025-12-26 10:23

ISTANBUL, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Turkey's energy minister said Russia had provided new financing worth $9 billion for the Akkuyu nuclear power plant being built by Moscow's state nuclear energy company Rosatom, adding Ankara expected the power plant to be operational in 2026. Rosatom is building Turkey's first nuclear power station at Akkuyu in the Mediterranean province of Mersin per a 2010 accord worth $20 billion. The plant was expected to be operational this year, but has been delayed. Sign up here. "This (financing) will most likely be used in 2026-2027. There will be at least $4-5 billion from there for 2026 in terms of foreign financing," Bayraktar told some local reporters at a briefing in Istanbul, according to a readout from his ministry. He said Turkey was in talks with South Korea, China, Russia, and the United States on nuclear projects in the Sinop province and Thrace region, and added Ankara wanted to receive "the most competitive offer". Bayraktar said Turkey wanted to generate nuclear power at home and aimed to provide clear figures on targets. He added Turkey was in talks with Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power company on a 5,000-megawatt solar package. "We will have completed the agreement for this in the first quarter of 2026, for 2,000 megawatts in the first phase. We are talking about a 2,000-megawatt solar energy project; 1,000 megawatts in Sivas, a thousand in Taseli," he said. "We are discussing a project on solar and storage with yet another firm from the Gulf again. The approximate investment cost of that is between $1.5-2 billion," Bayraktar added, without giving details. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/turkey-says-russia-gave-it-9-billion-new-financing-akkuyu-nuclear-plant-2025-12-26/

2025-12-26 10:07

MUMBAI, Dec 26(Reuters) - The Indian rupee ended a tad lower on Friday and posted a weekly loss, as steady dollar demand from corporates and in the non-deliverable forwards market chipped away at gains fuelled by aggressive central bank intervention. The rupee closed at 89.85 per dollar, marginally weaker than 89.7850 in the previous session. Sign up here. The currency fell 0.6% on the week, reversing course after rising more than 1% last week when the central bank stepped in to shore it up from record lows. On Friday, the rupee held in a narrow range and avoided deeper losses supported by dollar sales from state-run banks around 89.90, near the day’s low, traders said. A few maturing positions in the NDF market next week could add pressure and pull the rupee back below 90.50, a trader at a large private bank said. "Further gradual depreciation is expected until a favourable trade deal with the U.S. boosts the currency. Even if the INR strengthens, we expect the RBI to use the opportunity to increase its FX reserves," analysts at ANZ said in a note. India's foreign exchange reserves stood at nearly $689 billion as of December 12, per central bank data. Dollar-rupee forward premiums meanwhile continued to retreat with the 1-year implied yield down about 10 basis points at 2.74%. Traders pointed to cutting of stop-losses on paid positions that amplified the fall in premiums after the RBI's announcement of an FX swap eased concerns over excess dollar liquidity in the system. In broader markets, Asian currencies were mostly range bound while the dollar index lumbered near a two-month low and was on course to log its fourth weekly fall in the last five weeks. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/rupee-falls-week-merchant-ndf-dollar-bids-erode-intervention-boost-2025-12-26/

2025-12-26 09:00

SEOUL, Dec 26 (Reuters) - South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution (LGES) (373220.KS) , opens new tab has cancelled a 3.9 trillion won ($2.7 billion) contract with Freudenberg Battery Power Systems, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday. LG Energy Solution said it has mutually agreed with Freudenberg Battery Power Systems to terminate after Freudenberg scrapped plans for its battery business. Sign up here. The announcement comes a week after LGES lost another contract, when it said Ford Motor (F.N) , opens new tab terminated an EV battery supply deal worth about 9.6 trillion won. Ford said it would take a $19.5 billion writedown and scrap several electric-vehicle models, a dramatic example of the auto industry's retreat from battery-powered models in response to the Trump administration's policies and weakening EV demand. The contract termination means LGES will lose about 13.5 trillion won in expected revenue in less than 10 days, including from Ford, more than half of its 25.62 trillion won in revenue last year. LGES on Wednesday said it is selling a factory building and assets in the U.S. state of Ohio to Honda Development and Manufacturing of America for $2.86 billion to improve joint venture operational efficiency. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/lg-energy-solution-cancels-39-trillion-won-battery-order-with-freudenberg-2025-12-26/