2024-11-22 10:25

Billionaire Adani faces biggest challenge in U.S. indictment U.S. alleges bribe payments, also flag disclosure lapses Adani has denied all allegations, calling them baseless U.S. says Adanis made misleading statements to exchanges, public NEW DELHI, Nov 22 (Reuters) - In March, Adani Group's head of corporate finance wrote an email to one of its lenders, calling as "baseless" a media report on the group's alleged bribery investigation in the United States. That email was also marked to top finance executive Sagar Adani. That same very week of March 11, the Adani Group had also issued a statement saying it was "not aware of any (U.S) investigation" against its 62-year-old billionaire chairman, Gautam Adani. But exactly a year ago, in March 2023, FBI special agents had approached Sagar Adani with a search warrant in the United States, served him a grand jury subpoena and seized his electronic devices. Gautam Adani then emailed himself photographs of each page of that search warrant and subpoena. These details, contained in a U.S. indictment made public this week, have reignited a debate about disclosure standards at the $143 billion ports-to-energy conglomerate as prosecutors allege the Adanis made "false" and "misleading" statements to stock exchanges, the public, financial institutions and investors. Sagar Adani, his uncle Gautam, one of the world's richest men, and six others were indicted for fraud by U.S. prosecutors over their alleged roles in a $265 million scheme , opens new tab to bribe Indian officials to secure power supply deals, while, at the same time, falsely touting the company's compliance with anti-bribery laws when raising money from U.S. investors. Hit by Hindenburg Research's scathing 2023 report about improper business management and use of tax havens - which Adani denied - the conglomerate since last year repeatedly said its corporate governance standards are impeccable, saying it remains "confident of our governance and disclosure standards". The U.S. indictment shows prosecutors have found evidence to the contrary. Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani "not only concealed the bribery scheme from financial institutions and investors in the United States and elsewhere but also caused others to make false and misleading statements regarding their awareness and knowledge," the indictment document says. The Adani Group has said all allegations are "baseless and denied". It did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. India's market regulator is making preliminary checks to see if disclosures were inadequate and if they breached local market regulations, a SEBI official told Reuters. SEBI did not respond to a request for comment. "SEBI should issue a show cause notice to the Adani Group companies on the inadequate disclosures," said Shriram Subramanian, founder of proxy advisory firm InGovern Research Services. 'FALSE' DISCLOSURES Corporate governance at the group has been a talking point since Hindenburg alleged in 2023 that Adanis engaged in "an open and repeated violation of Indian disclosure laws". Adani responded to Hindenburg by saying its companies have "adopted best-in-class global disclosures and standards". The documents made public by U.S. authorities said each year between 2021 to 2024, group firm Adani Green (ADNA.NS) , opens new tab publicly released annual reports which included "false and misleading statements" about its anti-bribery practices. "The Adani Group can argue about the materiality of the investigations, but as the U.S. indictment reports note, the disclosures in the annual reports were against the established norms of good corporate governance," InGovern's Subramanian added. The Adanis also "made or caused others" to make false statements relating to the U.S. government's investigation in public statements to media, markets and Indian stock exchanges, U.S. authorities allege. In March 2024, Adani Green issued a disclosure to stock exchanges , opens new tab in India which U.S. prosecutors said "falsely stated, among other things, that ... (it) has not received any notice from the Department of Justice". India's BSE and NSE stock exchanges did not respond to Reuters queries, nor did the Ministry of Corporate Affairs which also oversees financial disclosures. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/adanis-bribery-scandal-raises-concern-market-public-disclosure-lapses-2024-11-22/

2024-11-22 10:13

MUMBAI, Nov 22 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee weakened to its lowest level on record on Friday before ending higher as the central bank's intervention supported the currency in the face of the U.S. dollar jumping to a two-year high. The rupee weakened to a low of 84.5075 against the U.S. dollar before closing at 84.4450, up 0.06% on the day. The currency was marginally lower week-on-week. The dollar index climbed to a peak of 108.09 on Friday, its highest since November 2022, before paring gains to last quote up 0.5% at 107.69. The greenback was boosted by weakness in the euro and British pound following weak economic data for Germany and the UK. The rupee, meanwhile, faced some pressure but managed to hold its ground, supported by the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) dollar-selling interventions and its instructions to some banks to cut speculative bets against the local currency, Reuters reported earlier. In addition to telling lenders to reduce speculative bets, the RBI has also asked them to avoid buying spot dollars to execute arbitrage trades. "The RBI will mostly be okay with a gradual depreciation of the rupee and will continue with their intervention. We expect the rupee to fall to 85 to the dollar by December-end," Anshul Chandak, head of treasury at RBL Bank, said. The rupee has weakened nearly 0.5% so far in November, hurt by overseas investors pulling out over $4 billion from local equities and debt and as the dollar rallied following Donald Trump's election victory on Nov. 5. Analysts reckon that the President-elect's policies could reignite inflation in the U.S. and temper future rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. The Indian currency has outperformed its regional peers this month. Other Asian currencies have declined 0.9% to 2.2% so far in November. The RBI's routine interventions have helped the rupee weather the negative cues, traders said. Asian currencies were mostly weaker on the day, with the Korean won down 0.3% and leading losses. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/rupee-closes-stronger-rbi-intervention-blunts-impact-surging-dollar-2024-11-22/

2024-11-22 08:04

LONDON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Millions of British households will see energy bills tick up in January after regulator Ofgem said it would increase its domestic price cap by 1.2% from January as volatile wholesale energy markets kept prices high. The rise, though small, adds to cost of living concerns after British inflation accelerated by more than expected last month to move back above the Bank of England's 2% target, driven largely by a 10% increase in the energy price cap in October. Energy secretary Ed Miliband said the rise would be a concern for families struggling with the cost of living and said the government was working to cut the country’s reliance on global fossil fuel markets to reduce energy prices. Wholesale gas and power prices are a major part of the formula Ofgem uses to calculate the price cap. Prices have remained high this year due to concerns over supply relating to conflict in the Middle East and flows to Europe from Russia via Ukraine which are expected to cease at the end of the year. Ofgem's new cap of 1,738 pounds ($2,182) a year for average use of electricity and gas is up 21 pounds, or 1.2%, from 1,717 pounds under the previous cap. Consumer groups warned that prices remain unmanageable for many households and criticised the government’s change to an annual winter fuel payment for millions of pensioners by moving the support to a means-tested system. It is "vital the ministers bring in more support for vulnerable households this winter and speed up plans to bring in a social tariff for next winter," said Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition. Miliband said the government is providing its Warm Home Discount support to three million families and working with energy suppliers to ensure there is help available. About 26 million customers are on standard rate tariffs covered by the price cap, which was introduced in 2019 to protect consumers. ($1 = 0.7964 pounds) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/uk-energy-regulator-raises-price-cap-by-12-january-2024-11-22/

2024-11-22 07:46

LONDON, Nov 25 (Reuters) - World markets continue to assess what the impending U.S. administration of President-elect Donald Trump administration will bring, as attention turns to an escalation of the war in Ukraine. The U.S. Thanksgiving holiday will usher in a key shopping period, while inflation is in focus in Japan and Europe. Here's a look at the week ahead from Rae Wee in Singapore, Lewis Krauskopf in New York, and Naomi Rovnick, Amanda Cooper and Yoruk Bahceli in London. 1/ BINGO ANYONE? "Trump trades" will likely continue dominating market action. Anyone with "buy crypto and the dollar, sell anything foreign, or green" on their markets' bingo card would still be in the money, even if momentum has softened. Bitcoin is within a hair's breadth of $100,000, up around 50% from early October, when online betting markets pointed to a Trump election win. The dollar index is up 3.6%. Clean energy, a Trump bug-bear, is the biggest loser, with iShares' clean energy exchange-traded fund (ICLN.O) , opens new tab down almost 14%. Mexico's peso has shed just over 4% and European equities (.STOXX) , opens new tab, around 3%. Trump on Friday said he would nominate prominent investor Scott Bessent as U.S. Treasury Secretary, ending days of uncertainty over the decision. And resistance to Trump trades could grow, from a realisation that stocks are expensive or from geopolitics providing a reality check on the risk assets' rally. 2/ FOREIGN AFFAIRS Group of Seven foreign ministers meet next week as Russia's Ukraine invasion just passed the grim milestone of 1,000 days of war and risks a major escalation. Russia fired a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday after the U.S. and UK allowed Kyiv to strike Russia with advanced Western weapons, a further escalation of the 33-month-old war. Safe-haven bonds have rallied in a sign of investor unease. But markets will struggle to assess the significance of fresh G7 communiques until Trump's policy on Ukraine becomes clearer. Trump regularly clashed with G7 allies during his first presidency and has pledged to end the war. Investors expect Europe to pay more of Ukraine's support bill and raise overall defence spending, which may require big changes like lifting Germany's constitutional spending cap. 3/ BARGAIN HUNT Thanksgiving week in the United States ends with Black Friday, which traditionally marks the start of the holiday shopping period. Investors are watching the extent to which inflation will weigh on buying habits, with consumer spending accounting for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. In one worrisome sign, Target (TGT.N) , opens new tab shares tumbled this week after the retailer forecast holiday-quarter comparable sales and profit below estimates. Inflation trends are also in focus with Wednesday's release of the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price index, the Federal Reserve's preferred gauge. The PCE index, which is expected to have climbed 0.2% for October, is one main data point before the Fed's Dec. 17-18 meeting. Markets indicate investors are split over whether the Fed will hold rates steady or deliver another quarter-point cut, which would be another boost to consumers. 4/ RUSH HOUR It's a jam-packed Friday for the euro zone, kicking off with inflation data watched closely by traders betting on the European Central Bank outlook. Inflation rebounded to 2% in October after falling below target a month. Pay growth meanwhile accelerated in Q3, though policymakers may look through that. Traders see just under a 20% chance of a 50 bps ECB rate cut in December, versus 40% a month earlier. Next up, S&P reviews France's credit rating - Fitch and Moody downgraded their outlooks to negative recently. Uncertainty remains high as Michel Barnier's government seeks to pass a belt-tightening budget, with far-right leader Marine Le Pen threatening to topple the fragile ruling coalition. And Ireland holds an election, where ambitious spending plans banking on a sustained boom in multinational corporate tax revenues could be threatened by Trump's presidency. 5/ HIKE OR NO HIKE? Also on Friday, Tokyo inflation numbers will be watched by investors and Bank of Japan policymakers gauging whether interest rates should rise in December. While officials have kept markets guessing on when they will hike next, a sliding yen could spark a hawkish BOJ shift sooner rather than later. The market odds of a 25-bps December hike are now up to about 54% from negligible levels a month ago. The yen, down more than 7% since the end of September to trade around 155 per dollar, has entered territory that previously triggered intervention by Japan to shore up the currency. Officials are back to jawboning about yen weakness, while politics complicates matters. The Liberal Democratic Party is looking to regain public support after a poor showing in recent election, and a rate hike is unlikely to sit well with voters. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/take-five/global-markets-themes-graphic-2024-11-22/

2024-11-22 07:32

LONDON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - British retail sales fell by much more than expected in October, according to official data that added to other signs of a loss of momentum in the economy in the run-up to the first budget of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's new government. A Reuters poll of economists had forecast a monthly fall of 0.3% in sales volumes from September. The drop was the sharpest since June when sales fell by 1.0% from May. A monthly rise in sales in September was also revised down to 0.1% from a previous estimate of a 0.3% gain. Sterling fell by about a fifth of a cent against the U.S. dollar immediately after the data before recovering. The Office for National Statistics said retailers across the board reported that consumers held back on spending ahead of the new government's first tax and spending budget on Oct. 30. It also said a possible contributor to the weakness in sales were the school half-term holidays for England and Wales which typically fall within the October data reporting period but did not this year. Sales of clothing were particularly weak in October, something reflected in previously released figures for the month from the British Retail Consortium, representing the industry, which linked the fall to weather that was warmer than usual. The ONS said during the 12 months to October, sales volumes rose by 2.4%, slowing from September's 3.2% rise and weaker than the median forecast in the Reuters poll for a 3.4% increase. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-retail-sales-fall-by-07-october-2024-11-22/

2024-11-22 07:27

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 22 (Reuters) - The South African rand slipped slightly in early trade on Friday, as the dollar climbed to a fresh 13-month high on global markets. At 0713 GMT, the rand traded at 18.1275 against the dollar , down about 0.2% on Thursday's closing level. The dollar was up around 0.1% against a basket of other major currencies . The rand has been bolstered this week by the South African Reserve Bank opting for a small cut to its main interest rate (ZAREPO=ECI) , opens new tab, quashing hopes for a larger move, and by a decision by S&P Global to raise the outlook on the country's sovereign credit rating. But the local currency remains highly sensitive to global drivers, including expectations for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's policies. Since Trump's election win, the rand has fallen more than 4% against the dollar as emerging market currencies have come under pressure. On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index (.JTOPI) , opens new tab was last up 0.3%. The benchmark 2030 government bond was little changed in early deals, the yield at 8.97%. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/south-african-rand-slips-dollar-climbs-global-markets-2024-11-22/