2024-10-31 05:47

ASTANA, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Kazakh agriculture minister Aidarbek Saparov said on Thursday he hoped that issues with Russian curbs on the import of grain and other agricultural products from Kazakhstan would be resolved within a week. Saparov, speaking after talks with Russia's agricultural safety watchdog, said one of his deputies has departed for Moscow where negotiations would continue. Trade tension between the neighbours has raised concerns because Kazakhstan, whose key export is oil, depends on transit via Russia to sell it on Western markets. Russian authorities said this week they had received complaints from domestic companies that Kazakhstan was issuing phytosanitary certificates in their names, despite the companies having made no such requests. The Kazakh agriculture ministry replied on Thursday by calling Moscow's accusations unfounded and saying it could not be held liable for the actions of fraudulent companies and there were similar cases with Russian exports to Kazakhstan. The matter needed to be resolved at the level of the Eurasian Economic Union, a trade bloc led by Russia, the Kazakh ministry said in a statement. Kazakhstan banned imports of wheat from Russia - and all other countries - in August, saying it needed to protect the domestic market. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/kazakhstan-hopes-resolve-agricultural-trade-tension-with-russia-within-week-2024-10-31/

2024-10-31 05:40

Oct 31 (Reuters) - Japanese investors sold overseas assets for a third straight week through Oct. 26, cashing in on the yen's sharp decline amid U.S. election uncertainties and reduced expectations of big Federal Reserve rate cuts. According to the Ministry of Finance data, Japanese investors sold foreign stocks and long-term bonds worth a net 397.6 billion yen and 889.6 billion yen ($5.81 billion), respectively, posting their third straight weekly net sales in both segments. They, however, added a net 116.5 billion yen worth of short-term bills. While the yen rallied in the September quarter, prompting Japanese investors to acquire foreign assets, it has lost about 6.4% against the dollar this month, creating profit-taking opportunities for Japanese market participants. The yen reached a three-month low this week after the ruling coalition lost its parliamentary majority, and is on track for its seventh sharpest monthly decline ever and the largest since November 2016. Last quarter, Japanese investors bought approximately 2.02 trillion yen in stocks and 5.11 trillion yen in long-term bonds. However, they have sold around 667 billion yen in equities and 1.19 trillion yen in long-term debt securities so far this month. In parallel, foreign net purchases of Japanese stocks fell to a five-week low of 8 billion yen last week, as investors exercised caution due to the election in Japan. Foreigners, meanwhile, snapped up a net 277.9 billion yen worth of long-term Japanese bonds, registering their fourth weekly net purchase in five. They, however, sold 682.6 billion yen worth of short-term instruments. ($1 = 153.0900 yen) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/japanese-investors-sell-overseas-assets-third-week-row-2024-10-31/

2024-10-31 05:38

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Kevin Buckland Mega-tech earnings remain in the spotlight on Thursday, particularly after the Bank of Japan's as-expected decision to hold policy steady failed to give the market any new trading cues. Apple and Amazon, two of the so-called "Magnificent 7", will report results to Wall Street on Thursday, picking up from Meta and Microsoft on Wednesday, and Alphabet the day before that. That'll leave AI darling Nvidia as the only one left to report, although its financial statement is still three weeks away. Tesla got things rolling on a high note last week, exciting investors with bold EV sales forecasts. Alphabet kept the momentum going by beating profit and revenue estimates on strength in YouTube ad sales and its cloud business. But the mood soured overnight, after Microsoft and Meta flagged ballooning costs from AI investments, making investors antsy about what Amazon will say on the topic. Alphabet had also noted on Tuesday that AI expenditures would stay high, but at that point in the week it didn't appear to be a trend. AI fever has driven Wall Street - and by extension many global equity markets - to all-time peaks this year, so any signs of weakness in the rally's foundation are sure to shake markets. Witness AMD's 10% plunge overnight on disappointing AI chip sales, dragging down shares of no less than Nvidia, among other chipmaking peers. In Europe, bank earnings still hold centre stage, with BNP Paribas, SocGen and ING among the lenders on deck today. Santander's international banking conference in Madrid hosts such speakers as Bank of Spain Governor Jose Luis Escriva and Dutch central bank governor Klaas Knot. Traders are looking for hints the ECB will accelerate rate cuts, with inflation coming down faster than officials originally anticipated. Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said on Wednesday that "price stability is not far off", the same day that French central bank chief Francois Villeroy de Galhau said victory against excessive inflation was "in sight". Euro-area and country-specific inflation figures are due later in the day, along with German retail sales. The U.S. Fed's preferred inflation measure, the PCE deflator, is also due today, ahead of potentially pivotal monthly payrolls figures on Friday. The next Fed decision is one week away, and robust macroeconomic indicators recently have pointed to a patient approach to rate cuts - even if data this week has sent some mixed signals. The Bank of Japan again highlighted risks from the U.S. economy in abstaining from raising rates today, although policymakers expressed confidence they could continue to normalise policy in due course. One of the risks certain to be on their radar is the U.S. election next Tuesday, which opinion polls still put as too close to call despite a shift in bets towards a Donald Trump win in financial markets and on some prediction websites. The biggest news for many Japanese today probably came from New York rather than Tokyo, with Shohei Ohtani helping the LA Dodgers to a World Series victory in his first season with the team. $700 million well spent, indeed. Key developments that could influence markets on Thursday: -Apple, Amazon report earnings in U.S. -BNP Paribas, SocGen, ING report earnings in Europe -Euro area HICP (Oct), German retail sales (Sep) -U.S. PCE deflator (Sep) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/global-markets-view-europe-2024-10-31/

2024-10-31 05:23

BEIJING, Oct 31 (Reuters) - China's financial hub Shanghai is bracing for potentially the worst rains in more than 40 years as Typhoon Kong-rey looks set to arrive from the south to sweep along the eastern coast over the next two days. Shanghai's railway operator announced suspensions to some high-speed trains from Thursday to Friday in preparation for Kong-rey's impact. The railway bureau said it will track the typhoon's path and adjust train schedules accordingly. Authorities alerted citizens to stock up on drinking water and some food ahead of the forecast extreme wet weather not seen since 1981, Chinese media said. Kong-rey is expected to make landfall in Taiwan as a strong category 4 typhoon on Thursday, the largest storm by size in 30 years to hit the island, unloading heavy rain and strong winds. Taiwan's forecaster said Kong-rey is expected to cross Taiwan's south, enter the Taiwan Strait and move northeasterly towards China after. In the Western Pacific basin, where the typhoon season can last until December at lower latitudes, large tropical cyclones such as Super Typhoon Yagi and Tropical Storm Trami have killed more than 1,000 people in East Asia this year. Typhoons are more widely known as a damaging summer weather phenomenon, but autumn typhoons can be super strong, take unusual routes, and join cold air to create more extreme wind and rainstorms, China Meteorological Administration's public weather service chief Zhu Dingzhen told state broadcaster CCTV. Peripheral circulation from Kong-rey and cold air from China's north will combine, bringing about up to 180mm (7.1 inches) of rain from Thursday evening into Friday, said local media. Local media warned of extreme rainfall, with hourly precipitation possibly reaching 70mm. Aside from Shanghai, China's national forecaster has also issued rainstorm warnings for parts of China's southeast and eastern provinces including for Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangsu. Zhejiang issued a typhoon warning and also suspended some trains, while Fujian has raised its emergency response levels for floods and storms. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/chinas-shanghai-braces-torrential-rain-typhoon-kong-rey-advances-2024-10-31/

2024-10-31 02:50

MUMBAI, Oct 31 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee is expected to open little changed on Thursday, amid losses in Asian shares and U.S. equity futures and a pause in the dollar's upward momentum. The 1-month non-deliverable forward indicated that the rupee will open largely unchanged from 84.0775 per U.S. dollar in the previous session, when it hit an all-time low of 84.09. The local currency has been in a very narrow range so far this week, just like last week. The Reserve Bank of India's insistence on not allowing the currency to depreciate from the current level has meant volatility has completely disappeared. The rupee's last 10 days daily annualised realized volatility has plummeted to less than 0.5%, despite significant foreign equity outflows, uncertainty about the U.S. presidential elections and U.S. Treasury yields making multi-month highs. The USD/INR pair is "almost behaving like a currency peg", said Srinivas Puni, managing director at QuantArt Market Solutions. "Today's (U.S.) PCE and tomorrow's jobs report may create some movement", though probably not meaningful enough to cause concern. The two reports will be scrutinized to gauge the pace at which the Federal Reserve is likely to cut borrowing costs. However, the importance of the data for Asia FX pales in significance to the U.S. elections on Nov. 5. A win for Donald Trump next week is likely to lead to a rally in the dollar index , lift U.S. Treasury yields and undermine Asian currencies. The possibility of a Trump win has lifted the dollar this month, although it took a bit of a breather over the past two sessions. Asian shares, meanwhile, were down on the day while U.S. equity futures extended losses. KEY INDICATORS: ** One-month non-deliverable rupee forward at 84.18; onshore one-month forward premium at 9.5 paisa ** Dollar index at 104.16 ** Brent crude futures up 0.5% at $72.9 per barrel ** Ten-year U.S. note yield at 4.29% ** As per NSDL data, foreign investors sold a net $106.2 mln worth of Indian shares on Oct. 29 ** NSDL data shows foreign investors bought a net $7.4 mln worth of Indian bonds on Oct. 29 Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/rupee-undermined-by-weak-risk-soft-dollar-supports-2024-10-31/

2024-10-31 00:51

SEOUL, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Shares of Korea Zinc (010130.KS) , opens new tab slumped for a second straight session on Thursday, after a decision by the world's top zinc refiner to issue new stocks. Shares fell by as much as 23.2% in Thursday's morning trade, after hitting on Wednesday their daily lower limit with a drop of 29.9%. Korea Zinc said on Wednesday it planned to issue new stock worth about $1.8 billion, just two days after it bought back shares at a higher price, amid a battle between its co-founding families for a controlling stake. Analysts criticised the decision as a move that could undervalue the interest of shareholders. The country's Financial Supervisory Service is scheduled to give a briefing later on Thursday on issues related to financial markets, including the takeover battle around Korea Zinc. Earlier this month, the market watchdog launched a probe into recent tender offers made by the two sides, urging them to refrain from any unfair practices. Korea Zinc shares traded down 15.1% as of 0038 GMT. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/korea-zinc-shares-plunge-second-day-ahead-watchdog-briefing-2024-10-31/