2024-01-01 06:52
SYDNEY, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Heavy rains lashed parts of Australia's east on Monday, triggering flash flooding, inundating roads and bringing more pain for some residents reeling after the intense thunderstorms that hit the region over the Christmas holidays. The northeastern New South Wales and southeastern Queensland regions were pounded by a wild weather system overnight, with several towns taking roughly a month's rainfall over 24 hours to Monday morning. More heavy rain is forecast until Tuesday morning, with totals set to exceed 250 mm (9.8 inches), more than the January average. "This situation continues to be dangerous and dynamic," Miriam Bradbury, a forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology, said in a video message on social media platform X. "This locally intense rainfall is most likely with thunderstorms through the day today and potentially could lead to life-threatening flash flooding." The popular Gold Coast tourist spot in Queensland is among the worst affected, with footage on social media showing vehicles stuck in flooded roads and low-lying areas under water. "If you don't have to go out today, stay home," Gold Coast City Mayor Tom Tate said during a press briefing. Thousands of residents in Queensland are still without power after thunderstorms on Dec. 25 and 26 uprooted trees and knocked down power lines. Authorities said the latest storms could delay reconnection efforts. A family of four, trapped after rapidly rising rivers submerged their caravan park in northern New South Wales, were successfully rescued. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/heavy-rains-australias-east-bring-more-pain-storm-hit-residents-2024-01-01/
2024-01-01 05:13
LONDON, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund accounted for about a quarter of the almost $124 billion spent by sovereign wealth funds worldwide last year, a report published on Jan. 1 showed. PIF's whopping $31.5 billion spend in 2023 compared with $123.8 billion for all sovereign wealth funds, based on a preliminary annual report from industry specialist Global SWF, which tracks the world's sovereign investment funds. The strong rally last year in global stocks helped to swell the assets managed by the sovereign wealth funds worldwide to a record $11.2 trillion. Total sovereign-controlled spending on the energy transition - everything from green hydrogen to lithium mining - also hit a record $25.9 billion in 2023, the report said. Despite this, total spending by the sovereign wealth funds last year was 21% below 2022. "This may signal an overly cautious approach, as there is no shortage of capital to put to work among these institutions," Global SWF managing director Diego López said in the report. Singapore's GIC, which led spending by wealth funds for the past six years, invested 48% less in 2023, despite a $144 billion inflow from the country's central bank. Gulf funds were able to increase their dealmaking dominance, largely at the expense of Canadian and Singaporean funds, the Global SWF report showed. Gulf funds now account for nearly 40% of the investment value deployed by sovereign wealth funds. Data provided by groups such as Global SWF is closely watched as not all sovereign funds release annual reports, and five of the top 10 do not reveal an exact total of their assets under management. GAMING AND SPORT Global SWF's report did not break out individual investments by Saudi Arabia's PIF, but its lavish spending on soccer and golf has made waves across the sporting world. In June, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced PIF would take control of the country's four leading soccer clubs, Al-Ittihad, Al-Ahli, Al-Hilal and Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr. In June, Saudi stunned the golf world, with a shock merger agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and rival LIV circuit, which is backed by the Saudi PIF. That merger is not yet finalised. Aside from its splurge on sport, the Kingdom's biggest investments were in other sectors and 42% of this spending was at home. Big-ticket purchases included $4.9 billion for U.S. gaming company Scopely, $3.6 billion to buy Standard Chartered's aircraft leasing division and $3.3 billion for steelmaker Hadeed. "The variety of deals shows the unparalleled bandwidth and reach of PIF and its subsidiaries, which are forming a wide net to capture any value-add for Saudi Vision 2030," López said, referring to the country's economic transformation plan. The Global SWR report also highlights PIF plans to launch an airline and its own electric vehicle brand. The report said the fund has an $8.1 billion stake in gaming companies Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts and Take-Two - part of plans to turn the country into a gaming hub. Looking ahead to 2024, Global SWF expects assets for all state-owned investors - including sovereign wealth funds, central banks and pension funds -- to surpass a previous peak in 2021 of $50.8 trillion in assets under management as they take account of the paper gains of the past year. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/saudi-sovereign-wealth-fund-splashes-cash-2023-report-shows-2024-01-01/
2024-01-01 02:55
MUMBAI, Jan 1 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee will open little changed on Monday, with the U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate outlook and the Reserve Bank of India's forex strategy expected to be the key to begin the New Year. Non-deliverable forwards indicate the rupee will open nearly unchanged from 83.2075 on Friday. Other Asian markets were off. "The most important things I can think of to begin the year are the Fed and RBI," an FX trader at a bank said. The balance of risks for USD/INR is on the downside (on USD/INR, "simply based" on the dollar's struggles premised on the Fed pivot and "hope of a different RBI", he said. The RBI has persistently intervened in foreign exchange markets on both sides over the last several weeks, keeping USD/INR in a narrow range, according to traders. Over the last two months, expectations that the Fed will cut rates several times in 2024 have hurt demand for the dollar. The dollar index has declined 5% over November and December on the back of investors pricing five or six Fed rate cuts this year. The first rate cut is expected to be delivered as soon as March. Some analysts see an uncertain period at the beginning of the year. "Given the moves we've seen in November/December, 2024 is unlikely to start with clear trends," Societe Generale said in a note. Important U.S. data is due this week, which could impact the interest rate outlook and, consequently, the dollar. The US ISM manufacturing data is due Wednesday, followed by services and non-farm payrolls print on Friday. KEY INDICATORS: ** One-month non-deliverable rupee forward at 83.30; onshore one-month forward premium at 8.25 paise ** Brent crude futures dropped to $77.04 per barrel on Fri ** Ten-year U.S. note yield at 3.87% on Fri ** As per NSDL data, foreign investors bought a net $679.7mln worth of Indian shares on Dec. 28 ** NSDL data shows foreign investors bought a net $105.4mln worth of Indian bonds on Dec. 28 https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/rupees-direction-guided-by-fed-outlook-rbi-start-2024-2024-01-01/
2024-01-01 00:19
SYDNEY, Jan 1 (Reuters) - New Zealand said on Monday all its dairy products were now able to enter China duty-free as safeguard duties on milk powder ended on Dec. 31, marking the removal of all remaining tariffs agreed upon in the free trade deal between the two countries. New Zealand was the first developed country to sign a free trade agreement with China in 2008, with the imports of milk powder subjected to the longest phase-out. An upgraded trade deal was entered when former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern met President Xi Jinping in 2022. "This is good news for our dairy sector. The removal of these remaining tariffs is expected to deliver additional annual tariff savings of approximately NZ$350 million ($221 million)," Trade Minister Todd McClay said in a statement. "The (free trade agreement) continues to deliver benefit to the New Zealand economy and to underpin the New Zealand-China trade relationship." China is New Zealand's largest trading partner, with two-way trade exceeding NZ$37 billion ($23.40 billion) in 2021. Annual dairy exports to China have averaged 1.4 million tonnes, worth about NZ$8 billion each year over the past three years, around half of which was milk powder, official data showed. Safeguard duties are emergency tariffs that countries use to shield domestic industries against intense competition from a sudden surge in imports of a particular product. The so-called special agricultural safeguards mechanism in the free trade deal was designed as a temporary measure. The tariff preferences are applied up to a designated volume and China's standard tariff applied to imports above the safeguard trigger. Safeguards duties on milk and cream, butter, and cheese ended in 2021, while those on milk powders ended on Dec. 31, 2023. ($1 = 1.5815 New Zealand dollars) https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/new-zealand-says-chinas-safeguard-duties-milk-powder-over-2024-01-01/
2023-12-31 21:35
SAO PAULO, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras' (PETR4.SA) Sepetiba floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit started production on Sunday, the oil giant said in a securities filing. Sepetiba, which has been chartered from SBM and installed at the Mero oilfield in the pre-salt of the Santos Basin, has the capacity to produce 180,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) and a daily 12 million cubic meters of gas, Petrobras said. Sepetiba is the third production unit installed by the company at the Mero oilfield, where it still plans to add two other units. Mero's current output totals around 230,000 bpd, according to the Brazilian firm. Petrobras operates and holds a 38.6% stake in the Mero oilfield. The remaining stakeholders are Shell (SHEL.L), TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA), China's CNPC, CNOOC (0883.HK) and PPSA. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/brazils-petrobras-says-sepetiba-fpso-enters-production-2023-12-31/
2023-12-31 18:46
Tshisekedi wins another disputed election Promises to unite Congo after a disputed poll Opposition leaders call for protests A new alliance threatens to 'march to Kinshasa' KINSHASA, Dec 31 (Reuters) - When Democratic Republic of Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi was declared the winner of another disputed election on Sunday, he pledged be a leader for all its 100 million people. However, accusations by opposition leaders of electoral fraud and political repression will likely cloud his second term as it did the first. His main rivals rejected Sunday's outcome before it was announced and called for a rerun. Speaking to supporters at his campaign headquarters in the capital, Kinshasa, Tshisekedi appealed for unity. "It is with a spirit of openness that I'll govern during this second term," Tshisekedi told a jubilant crowd, adding that he would focus on creating jobs, security and a more diversified and competitive economy. The result sets the stage for a tense political standoff with the potential for the kind of violence that followed contested polls in 2018, 2011 and 2006. There could also be international ramifications. Congo is the world's top supplier of cobalt, used in making batteries for electric vehicles and cell phones, and its third-biggest copper producer. Tshisekedi, 60, son of longtime opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, inherited his father's substantial support base on his death in 2017 after years in the shadows. However, vote tallies reviewed by Reuters at the time from Congo's Roman Catholic Church, which had a 40,000-strong team of observers, showed second-placed opposition candidate Martin Fayulu as the victor in 2018. Fayulu suspected that Tshisekedi had struck a deal with outgoing president Joseph Kabila, who was prevented from running by term limits. Fayulu denounced the result as a "constitutional coup d'etat", which Tshisekedi and Kabila both dismissed. With Kabila's help, Tshisekedi was able to garner much-needed support in parliament and security institutions in his first years in office. But the alliance quickly fell apart as he moved to strengthen his hand by placing supporters in key positions. 'SHAM ELECTION' When he launched his campaign for re-election, Tshisekedi told supporters he needed more time to consolidate gains and deliver on promises to roll back decades of authoritarian rule, root out corruption, rebuild the economy, tackle inequalities and deal with a prolonged security crisis in Congo's east. "In just two years we have been able to do all of these actions that you have seen, but we can do better," Tshisekedi told a packed Kinshasa stadium on Nov. 19, adding that his first two years in office were constrained by the power-sharing arrangement with Kabila. Critics, however, said Tshisekedi had fallen short and accused him of stifling dissent, as his predecessors had done. A group of nine rival presidential candidates, including Fayulu and opposition frontrunner Moise Katumbi, asked supporters on Sunday to take to the streets to protest what they called a "sham election". While economic growth rose sharply under Tshisekedi's watch, largely due to demand for key minerals, little of the proceeds reached the around 62% of Congo's population who live on less than a dollar a day. The cost of living soared as the Congolese franc depreciated, with annual inflation running at over 30% in December, according to the country's statistics institute. Although Tshisekedi declared a state of siege in two eastern provinces in May 2021 and increased defence spending, his administration struggled to contain the numerous armed groups behind attacks that have killed thousands of people and displaced nearly 7 million in the east. In a worrying development, Corneille Nangaa, leader of a new alliance that includes rebels and political groupings in eastern Congo, rejected the election and vowed on Sunday to "march to Kinshasa". https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/congos-tshisekedi-fights-poll-fraud-accusations-with-spirit-openness-2023-12-31/
