2024-03-25 21:51
CAIRO, March 25 (Reuters) - The Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) signed an agreement on Monday to provide $1.4 billion to the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, Saudi Arabia's state news agency SPA reported. The ITFC, part of Saudi Arabia's Islamic Development Bank, said the financing was aimed at developing Bangladesh's energy infrastructure. "This agreement is a testament to the successful long-term partnership between the two parties and the financing plan will ensure energy security for one of the fastest-growing economies in South Asia," SPA said. SPA did not say what form the financing would take. The Reuters Power Up newsletter provides everything you need to know about the global energy industry. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/saudi-arabias-islamic-trade-finance-corp-provide-14-billion-bangladesh-petroleum-2024-03-25/
2024-03-25 21:49
March 26 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets. Chinese markets will be under close scrutiny on Tuesday, as signs emerge that the recovery for much of this year in asset prices and investor sentiment may be fading as the first quarter draws to a close. The broader tone across Asia is fairly muted too with regional stocks on the defensive as investors grapple with a resilient dollar and higher U.S. bond yields in the wake of last week's central bank fireworks. Tuesday's calendar is relatively light. The latest reading of Japan's service sector producer price inflation is potentially the most significant release, while Australian consumer sentiment is also on tap. Exchange rates are in the spotlight, with the yen steadying after Japan's top currency diplomat said its recent "big slide" against the dollar did not reflect fundamentals. China's yuan , opens new tab, meanwhile, goes in to Tuesday on the back of a roller-coaster couple of days. It sank on Friday and rebounded on Monday thanks to suspected dollar selling by state-owned banks as the central bank set its daily 'fixing' rate much stronger than analysts had expected. The People's Bank of China set the yuan fixing rate at 7.0996 per dollar, some 1,300 basis points lower than the market's neutral estimate of 7.23. Analysts at Deutsche Bank said this marked the largest strengthening bias since November. According to analysts at Rabobank, this suggests Beijing does not want the yuan to weaken excessively ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November. Whatever the reasoning, it was a dramatic reversal from Friday, when the offshore yuan slumped 0.75% against the dollar for its biggest fall in over a year. That was on huge volume too - spot volume on trading platform EBS was $24.2 billion, the fourth highest ever, according to CME Group, which owns EBS. There doesn't appear to be any clear explanation for the yuan's swings, so it's no surprise that the volatility and uncertainty is spilling over into other assets - blue chip stocks fell for a third day on Monday, the longest losing streak since January. Sentiment toward China will not have been helped by news that U.S. and British officials filed charges, imposed sanctions, and called out Beijing over an alleged sweeping cyberespionage campaign that hit millions of people - including lawmakers, academics, journalists and more. Washington and London accused the hacking group nicknamed "APT31" of being an arm of China's Ministry of State Security and reeled off a laundry list of targets: White House staffers, U.S. senators, British parliamentarians, and government officials around the world who criticized Beijing. Trade tensions are percolating again too, after the FT reported that China is seeking to block the use of Intel and AMD in government computers, and sideline Microsoft Windows and other foreign-made software in favor of domestic options. Here are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Tuesday: - Japan services PPI (February) - Australia consumer sentiment (March) - Hong Kong trade (February) Get a look at the day ahead in Asian and global markets with the Morning Bid Asia newsletter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/global-markets-view-asia-graphic-pix-2024-03-25/
2024-03-25 21:17
MEXICO CITY, March 25 (Reuters) - Mexican state energy company Pemex hopes to access financing at more favorable rates with a sustainability plan laying out its commitments to bring down emissions, the company's chief financial officer said Monday. Bond investors, which hold the vast majority of Pemex's financial debt, totaling more than $100 billion, have long considered the company a laggard in a global race to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. "Attention to the ESG (environmental, social and governance) agenda has undoubtedly been a part of the issues that our financial counterparts and our stakeholders have asked us to observe," Chief Financial Officer Carlos Cortez said. "Addressing these issues would give us access to increasingly restricted sources of financing and, to the extent that we qualify, we could access financing at more favorable conditions." The plan comes as financing options are drying up for the world's most indebted energy company. This year alone, Pemex is set to receive government support worth some 145 billion pesos ($8.70 billion) to meet its debt obligations. It has also been given tax cuts. Pemex seeks to reduce methane emissions 30% by 2030 from a 2020 baseline, the sustainability plan states. In addition, it plans to reduce routine gas flaring to 2% this year, and to zero by 2030. It was not clear how much the company would need to spend to reach these goals and others to meet its net-zero ambition by 2050. Over the past decade, Mexico has declared hundreds of millions of dollars in spending on fossil fuel infrastructure at and state electricity utility CFE as expenditure to address climate change and promote energy transition. Last week, Reuters reported that Pemex put off urgent repairs and maintenance at an important offshore platform for months, resulting in methane spewing into the atmosphere. ($1 = 16.6671 Mexican pesos) The Reuters Power Up newsletter provides everything you need to know about the global energy industry. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/mexicos-pemex-bids-more-favorable-financing-rates-with-sustainability-plan-2024-03-25/
2024-03-25 21:17
NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - The launch of options on Reddit (RDDT.N) , opens new tab on Monday drew a flurry of bullish bets that some analysts said helped boost the social media platform's stock after last week's strong market debut. Reddit shares soared 48% on the New York Stock Exchange as the company went public on Thursday, despite posting no annual profit since its launch in 2005. Reddit was the top percentage gainer on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, finishing up 30% at $59.80. Some 90,000 Reddit options changed hands, with trades leaning toward bullish bets, analysts said. "The action is on the call side and collected around the upside," said Ophir Gottlieb, chief executive of Los Angeles-based Capital Market Laboratories. "With the stock trading higher on Day One, this feels like speculation for higher moves." April call options with strike prices of $50 to $75 were among the most actively traded Reddit contracts. Among puts, contracts guarding against a drop below $25 by mid-April were the most traded. Calls convey the right to buy shares at a fixed price in the future, while puts offer the right to sell them at a set price. The bullish options activity could have been a factor in Monday's stock rally, some analysts said. "It's always a bit of a chicken and egg discussion when it comes to active options and an active underlying stock," said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers. "I think the options action is having an impact on today's price movement." When options traders buy calls, dealers who sell them are exposed to the risk of the underlying stock rallying above the contract price for future sales. As a hedge, dealers tend to buy the stock as it advances, adding more fuel to the rally. Experts have previously linked dramatic price movements in virally popular meme stocks, including AMC Entertainment (AMC.N) , opens new tab, to an options dynamic called a "gamma squeeze" in industry parlance. "As the stock goes up, market makers need to buy more," said Matt Amberson, founder of options analytics service ORATS. He said Monday's Reddit options activity recalled the trading of meme stocks touted by individual investors who often use options to express their views. Meme stocks emerged in 2020, led by GameStop (GME.N) , opens new tab whose price rose as much as 100 times over several months in 2021, largely on the sentiment of individual buyers connected through the Reddit community forum WallStreetBets. Capital Market Laboratories' Gottlieb, however, said a direct connection was unlikely in Monday's activity. The 2012 listing of options on Facebook Inc, now known as Meta Platforms (META.O) , opens new tab, holds the record for the most active options market debut with some 360,000 contracts changing hands on the first day of trading. The Technology Roundup newsletter brings the latest news and trends straight to your inbox. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/reddit-options-launch-draws-bulls-shares-extend-gains-2024-03-25/
2024-03-25 20:52
March 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking fines and penalties totaling $2 billion in its case against Ripple Labs over sales of the cryptocurrency XRP, the company's chief legal officer said in a social media post on Monday. In posts on X, Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty said the regulator has asked U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan for the penalties in court papers filed under seal. The SEC was scheduled to file the documents publicly with redactions on Tuesday. "Rather than faithfully apply the law, the SEC remains bent on wanting to punish and intimidate Ripple - and the industry at large," Alderoty said. A spokesperson for the SEC declined to comment. Torres ruled in July that the blockchain company's sale of XRP worth $728.9 million to hedge funds and other sophisticated buyers amounted to unlawful sales of unregistered securities. Ripple is scheduled to file a reply in April. The SEC sued Ripple, its CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen in 2020, accusing them of illegally raising more than $1.3 billion in an unregistered securities offering by selling XRP. The SEC dropped its remaining claims against Garlinghouse and Larsen in October. The case has been highly watched, as it is among the biggest brought by the SEC in the cryptocurrency space. While the SEC partly won the case, Torres dealt the regulator a high-profile setback when she ruled that XRP Ripple sold on public cryptocurrency exchanges did not meet the legal definition of a security. Torres denied the SEC's request to repeal that ruling while the case is in progress. But the regulator may appeal once the judge decides its request for penalties. Other crypto companies facing SEC lawsuits, including major exchanges Coinbase and Binance, have pointed to Torres' ruling in urging other judges to dismiss the regulator's claims. While the SEC has depicted most cryptocurrencies as the same kind of investment that has been classified as securities for decades, the industry has argued securities laws do not fit digital assets and called for new laws and regulations. Get a look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets with the Morning Bid U.S. newsletter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/sec-seeking-2-billion-ripple-labs-chief-legal-officer-says-2024-03-25/
2024-03-25 20:46
March 25 (Reuters) - Bitcoin rose 7.15% to $70,900 at 2010 GMT on Monday. (This story has been corrected to say bitcoin rose 7.15%, not 11.63%, in the headline and story) The Technology Roundup newsletter brings the latest news and trends straight to your inbox. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/bitcoin-rises-1163-70900-2024-03-25/
