2024-03-07 05:11

TOKYO, March 7 (Reuters) - A Japanese court rejected a complaint demanding the shutdown of Shikoku Electric Power's (9507.T) , opens new tab Ikata No.3 reactor, in the first formal ruling on the legal battle for the nuclear plant in western Japan, public broadcaster NHK reported on Thursday. The Oita District Court's ruling against the local residents worried about natural disaster risks allows the 30-year-old, 890-megawatt active reactor to continue operating. Shikoku Electric had faced two court injunctions to stop the reactor in 2017 and 2020, but both orders had been overturned by higher courts later. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-court-rejects-bid-halt-active-shikoku-nuclear-reactor-nhk-reports-2024-03-07/

2024-03-07 05:04

MUMBAI, March 7 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee will aim to move past a key resistance in the wake of the decline in the dollar and U.S. Treasury yields following Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments. Non-deliverable forwards indicate rupee will open flat to slightly higher to the U.S. dollar from 82.8225 in the previous session. Following the "not expected" down move on the dollar/rupee late on Wednesday, the question now is whether the pair will drop below 82.80 and the year-to-date low of 82.77, an fx trader at a bank said. "The momentum is there for the push lower. What remains to be seen is whether the RBI will allow it." The Reserve Bank of India has been mopping up dollar inflows, stifling any possible rally on the rupee, according to traders. Over the course of the last two weeks, the central bank has intervened on several occasions. The dollar index and the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield dropped to a more-than-1-month low on Wednesday. Powell said that while continued progress on inflation "is not assured," the Fed still expects to reduce its benchmark interest rate later this year. He reiterated that Fed members "believe that our policy rate is likely at its peak for this tightening cycle". "Powell's testimony.. suggests an inclination to cut interest rates to a more neutral level, but with inflation still above target and the activity data beating expectations, the central bank isn't in a position to do so," ING Bank said in a note. With more evidence of a cooling jobs market, ING thinks the Fed can cut rates from June. Investors have nearly fully priced out rate cuts at the March and May meeting. The odds of a rate cut in June is near 60%. KEY INDICATORS: ** One-month non-deliverable rupee forward at 82.88; ** Dollar index down at 103.31 ** Brent crude futures flat at $83 per barrel ** Ten-year U.S. note yield at 4.12% ** As per NSDL data, foreign investors sold a net $26.7mln worth of Indian shares on Mar. 5 ** NSDL data shows foreign investors bought a net $96.2mln worth of Indian bonds on Mar. 5 https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/rupee-hopes-climb-past-resistance-dollar-weakness-after-powell-comments-2024-03-07/

2024-03-07 05:04

MUMBAI, March 7 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee rose to its strongest level in six months on Thursday aided by dollar sales from large foreign banks but likely intervention from the Indian central bank eroded the local unit's early gains. The rupee was at 82.7750 against the U.S. dollar as of 10:25 a.m. IST, up 0.05% compared with its close of 82.8225 in the previous session. The local unit rose to an intraday high of 82.7350, its highest since early September, before likely intervention from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) ate into the currency's gains, four traders said. In addition, "the market was also buying," as current levels on the dollar-rupee pair are quite appealing for importers, a foreign exchange trader at a state-run bank said. The dollar index was down at 103.22, hovering close to its lowest level in a month that it hit on Wednesday, after U.S. bond yields fell following the release of data that signalled some softening in the labour market and Federal Reserve Chair Powell's remarks that were not as hawkish as some had expected. In his remarks to U.S. lawmakers, Powell said rate reductions will "likely be appropriate" later this year, "if the economy evolves broadly as expected." But progress on inflation "is not assured," he added. Powell's remarks did little to move the needle on expectations of when the Fed will begin to ease rates, with investors pricing in a 67% chance of a June rate cut, according to CME's FedWatch tool. Weakness in the dollar is bound to "support rupee" in early trading but significant appreciation is unlikely due to strong local dollar demand, Arnob Biswas, head of foreign exchange research at SMC Global Securities said. Investors now await the release of U.S. jobless claims data due later on Thursday and the non-farm payrolls report due on Friday. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/rupee-retreats-six-month-high-likely-cenbank-intervention-2024-03-07/

2024-03-07 05:02

Delayed rate cut expected, likely to buoy dollar China Jan-Feb crude imports rise y/y - customs U.S. crude stocks rose as gasoline, distillate stocks drop NEW YORK, March 7 (Reuters) - Oil prices were little changed on Thursday as markets weighed new economic data from China against increasing supply from the Western Hemisphere. Brent crude futures settled flat at $82.96 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures ended 20 cents lower at $78.93. China's import and export growth beat estimates, suggesting global trade is turning a corner in a positive signal for policymakers as they try to shore up economic recovery. But even as China posted a 5.1% rise in crude imports during the first to months of the year from a year earlier, overall imports have been falling, continuing a trend of softening purchases by the world's biggest buyer. "The import numbers were down substantially because they are not willing to pay full price for barrels," said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho. The lack of Chinese demand failed to impress the market, he said. The global oil market is relatively well supplied with demand growth slowing and supply increasing from the Americas, the head of the International Energy Agency's (IEA) oil markets and industry division told Reuters on Thursday. Oil inventories in the U.S. rose last week for a sixth week in a row. "The market continues to be pulled around demand concerns in China, on the one hand, and increasing supply out of the Western Hemisphere," said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates. The markets were bracing for the likelihood that the Federal Reserve could delay its first U.S. interest rate cut to the second half of this year, which boosted the dollar, according to a Reuters poll of foreign exchange strategists. A strong greenback dents demand for dollar-denominated oil among buyers using other currencies. On Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank still expects to reduce its benchmark interest rate this year. On Thursday, the European Central Bank kept its main interest rate unchanged at 4.0% as expected. Fuel consumption in India, the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer, rose 5.7% year-on-year in February, aided by strong factory activity. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-prices-edge-higher-after-us-stocks-build-less-than-expected-2024-03-07/

2024-03-07 04:25

MUMBAI, March 7 (Reuters) - The Indian central was likely buying U.S. dollars via state-run banks, four traders told Reuters on Thursday. The rupee was last quoted at 82.79 against the U.S. dollar, up from its intraday high of 82.7350. The rupee rose to its highest level in six months, aided by broad weakness in the U.S. dollar and on dollar selling by custodial banks. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/indian-central-bank-likely-buying-us-dollars-via-state-run-banks-traders-say-2024-03-07/

2024-03-07 00:55

March 6 (Reuters) - Republican-led states and industry groups on Wednesday filed three lawsuits challenging a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule that toughens air quality standards for soot pollution. The lawsuits were filed in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by a variety of industry groups and 25 states including Texas, Kentucky and West Virginia. The lawsuits will seek to block an EPA rule finalized last month that lowered the average allowable concentration of fine particulate matter, or soot, in the air. Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman, whose state is co-leading with West Virginia one of the lawsuits filed on behalf of 24 states, said in a statement that the standards would raise costs for manufacturers, utilities and families. "This rule will drive jobs and investment out of Kentucky and overseas, leaving employers and hardworking families to pay the price," Coleman said in a statement. Texas filed its own lawsuit, while industry groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers filed the third. The EPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Soot, or fine particulate matter, comes from sources ranging from power plants to vehicle tailpipes to construction sites. It causes lung and heart damage and has been found to disproportionately affect low-income communities, according to the EPA. The EPA's rule, which does not directly impose pollution controls on specific industries, strengthened the standards for soot for the first time in over a decade, lowering the allowable concentration of particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns, or PM 2.5, from 12 to 9 micrograms per cubic meter(µg/m3) on average per year. The EPA estimated the new rules will yield $46 billion in health benefits in 2032. Opponents have claimed that the rules could block permitting for new manufacturing facilities and stop new infrastructure construction, among other things. https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-republican-states-industry-groups-challenge-epas-new-soot-pollution-rule-2024-03-07/