2024-10-03 18:26

Canadian dollar falls 0.3% against the greenback Touches its weakest since Sept. 23 at 1.3553 Canada's services economy deteriorates in September 10-year yield touches a one-month high at 3.097%. TORONTO, Oct 3 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar weakened to a 10-day low against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday as data showed a deepening downturn in Canada's services economy and investors weighed ebbing prospects of another 50-basis-point interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve. The loonie was trading 0.3% lower at 1.3540 to the U.S. dollar, or 73.86 U.S. cents, after touching its weakest level since Sept. 23 at 1.3553. "I'd say that the U.S. dollar is the real story," said Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex LLC. "Maybe the Fed doesn't cut by 50 basis points in November." Investors see a 65% chance the Fed will cut by a quarter of a percentage point next month rather than repeating the half-percentage-point move from September. The U.S. dollar (.DXY) , opens new tab notched broad-based gains, climbing to a six-week high against a basket of major currencies, as data showed a still-solid American economy. In contrast, Canada's services economy deteriorated in September as firms shed jobs and new business dropped to a near four-year low. The headline business activity index in S&P Global Canada services PMI data fell to 46.4 from 47.8 in August. Still, the Canadian dollar is forecast to strengthen in the coming year as lower borrowing costs bolster economic growth in Canada and increase investor appetite for risk, a Reuters poll found. The price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, rose for a third straight day on investor concern that a widening Middle East conflict could disrupt oil flows from the region. U.S. crude futures were up 4.5% at $73.28 a barrel. Canadian government bond yields moved higher across the curve, tracking moves in U.S. Treasuries. The 10-year was up 5.4 basis points at 3.081, after earlier touching its highest level since Sept. 3 at 3.097%. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/canadian-dollar-hits-10-day-low-against-dominant-greenback-2024-10-03/

2024-10-03 15:01

LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Global bank messaging network SWIFT will trial live transactions of tokenised assets and digital currencies next year, it said on Thursday, the latest step in the currently slow-moving integration of such assets into the wider financial system. Banks and asset managers have been exploring "tokenising" traditional assets like bonds for several years. They hope that by using digital units - usually blockchain-based tokens that represent a share of the underlying asset - trading can be quicker, cheaper and more efficient, including by cutting out middlemen involved in many transactions. So far, however, these have failed to gain substantial traction in the wider market. Around 90% of the world's central banks are also testing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), digital versions of fiat money, that facilitate trading of tokenised assets. Monetary authorities are trying to get on top of technological advances that have enabled cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. SWIFT, which plays a crucial role in global banking, has been engaged in trials of both CBDCs and tokenised assets. In March said it would launch a new platform to connect CBDCs currently in development to the existing financial system. "Now we see industry demand to move out of that (trial) phase and see a digital asset really move, and have a counterparty pay them in real money against that," said Nick Kerigan, SWIFT's head of innovation. "That's the stage that we are moving to next year, albeit in a controlled way." While the potential is large, the market's fragmented nature is holding it back and very few initiatives have progressed outside banks' own internal systems. Similarly, central banks are testing wholesale CBDCs for cross border payments, but within small groups. The latest SWIFT initiative involves different types of digital assets in combination across different platforms. "To successfully trade and settle a tokenised bond transaction, you need the cash and that's where a tokenised deposit or wholesale CBDC comes in," said Kerigan. "It's not good enough if you just have delivery or just payment, you need both." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/swift-trial-live-digital-currency-transactions-next-year-2024-10-03/

2024-10-03 12:55

GOMA, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Around 23 bodies have been recovered and 40 people rescued following a boat accident on Lake Kivu, Colonel Molatelo Motau of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) mission in Democratic Republic of Congo said on Thursday. A video seen by Reuters appeared to show the two-deck boat tilting sideways before capsizing in calm waters. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the video. A local migration authority said that around 45 males and 35 females were registered as passengers, adding that those figures were not definitive and ages were unavailable. Several survivors told Reuters that there saw nearly 200 people on board. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/around-23-bodies-recovered-following-boat-accident-congos-lake-kivu-2024-10-03/

2024-10-03 12:39

MADRID, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Olive oil exporters in Spain, the world's biggest producer, have warned there are no viable alternative routes to the lucrative U.S market amid a strike at U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports. Spanish olive oil producers' and exporters' association Asoliva said the strike that started on Oct. 1 would hit exports, without quantifying the impact. WHY IT IS IMPORTANT Spain became the largest exporter of olive oil to the United States last year, overtaking Italy as shipments reached 180,000 metric tons, or nearly a third of the 480,000 tons consumed there, according to Asoliva. Spanish olive oil exports to the U.S. also doubled in value between January and July from year ago to 693 million euros ($765 million), Spanish official data show, accounting for 6% of Spain's total exports to that country. Meanwhile, consumption of bottled oil in Spain has fallen due to rising prices. KEY QUOTES "If the strike continues, it's going to be a problem ... we don't think it's viable to go through the Panama Canal or Argentina, or by air," Asoliva director Rafael Pico said. Spanish cooperative Dcoop told Reuters that it had looked at potentially shipping to less-affected ports, but that didn't seem to be an option. "We hope it (the strike) will be called off soon," it said, adding it had increased shipments to the United States in recent weeks to build up stocks ahead of the strike. CONTEXT U.S. consumers have been buying more Spanish olive oil, even though at an average of 8.81 euros per kilogramme it is more expensive than its Italian counterpart. Some U.S. analysts have warned that perishable products such as fruit, seafood and coffee will be first affected after a week of strike action. Non-perishable imports should be less affected, but congestion at West Coast ports could also worsen. ($1 = 0.9058 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/spanish-olive-oil-hit-by-us-ports-strike-no-alternative-routes-seen-2024-10-03/

2024-10-03 12:35

MOSCOW, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said the OPEC+ group of leading oil producer will continue to play a decisive role in global oil market stabilisation. He also said in a column for the Russian energy ministry's in-house magazine published on Thursday that the formation of OPEC+ in late 2016 had generated more than 30 trillion roubles ($315 billion) in additional earnings for the Russian federal budget. "The key potential for increasing oil production lies with the participants in the OPEC+ agreement. Therefore, the deal, of which our country is an active participant, will continue to play a decisive role in stabilising the world market," Novak said. "The OPEC+ agreement allows us to ensure a fair price for oil." Novak also said that Russian pipeline gas exports, including to former Soviet Union countries, may increase to 197 billion cubic metres by 2036. That would still be below the more than 230 bcm per year exported before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. ($1 = 95.2500 roubles) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russias-novak-says-opec-continue-key-role-stabilising-oil-market-2024-10-03/

2024-10-03 12:29

Oct 3 (Reuters) - Slovakia has a strong interest in continuing to let oil and gas flow from Russia to the west via Ukraine, Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Thursday, adding that it faced pressure from the European Commission for those supply flows to end. "We have a fundamental interest in maintaining transit routes for gas and oil through Ukraine, and we tell this to our Ukrainian partners," Fico told reporters, ahead of a joint meeting of the Slovak and Ukrainian cabinets on Monday. The central European country faces the threat of disruptions to key Russian energy supplies due to its reliance on transit pipelines through Ukraine, which has been fighting against Russia's invasion since February 2022. Ukraine has already said it does not want to renew a gas transit deal with Russia at the end of the year. Fico said alternative routes were too expensive and Slovakia wanted to remain a transit country itself. "There is huge pressure from the European Commission that nothing came from east to west," he said. Earlier this year, Slovakia and Hungary had their Russian oil supplies cut after Ukraine banned Lukoil supplies from going through the country when it put the group on a sanctions list. That disruption was resolved after Hungarian oil and gas group MOL (MOLB.BU) , opens new tab, which owns refineries in Hungary and Slovakia, reached deals with suppliers and pipeline operators under which it took ownership of the crude oil volumes at the Belarus-Ukraine border. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/slovakia-says-it-has-strong-interest-maintaining-transit-russian-oil-gas-via-2024-10-03/