2023-11-06 06:39

NICOSIA, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Cyprus has responded to a request from international energy companies led by Chevron (CVX.N) for an extension in talks over a modified development plan for its Aphrodite offshore gas field, its energy minister said on Monday. Talks to bridge a rift over pared-back plans for the 3.5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) field south-east of Cyprus went down to the wire, with Cypriot authorities responding to Chevron very late on Sunday, when negotiations were due to expire. "We responded to a letter by the company seeking an extension which we received last week. Until we receive an answer from the company we see no value in making any statement," Energy Minister George Papanastasiou said. Development of the field had been the subject of dispute, after the consortium submitted a modified plan this year which Cyprus considered went back on a 2019 field development plan agreed by all sides. The modifications removed a floating processing unit (FPU) and cut the number of production wells to three from an initial five. The initial plan had been prepared by Noble, an independent operator which Chevron acquired in October 2020, when estimated reserves were in the region of 4.5 tcf. An updated assessment following a new appraisal well this year lowered the estimates to around 3.5 tcf. Nicosia considers the FPU essential in extending the lifespan of the field, while Chevron, backed by the U.S. administration, considers the modified plan will help get gas to the market faster and does not involve building costly large infrastructure. Chevron is a partner in the field with Israel's NewMed (NWMDp.TA) and Shell (SHEL.L). The overall objective of the project, which remains unchanged, is to connect Aphrodite via a subsea pipeline to Egypt, where the gas can be sold in the domestic market or liquefied and shipped to Europe, which has been largely cut off from Russian supplies. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/cyprus-responds-chevron-extension-sought-over-aphrodite-gas-2023-11-06/

2023-11-06 06:24

MOSCOW, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Swathes of Russia and Ukraine were bathed in some of the strongest scarlet and green "northern lights" for years on Monday due to solar flares, according to pictures posted on social media and Russian media. The so-called "aurora borealis" bathed swathes of Siberia, the Urals, southern Russia and Ukraine in green, scarlet and purple overnight. Pictures posted on social media showed the night sky across Russia shining red and green. The lights are generated by streams of charged particles from the sun which penetrate the earth's atmosphere and collide with gas molecules which then release photons of light. The New Scientist magazine said in September that the northern lights are expected to be stronger this year than for at least a decade due to a surge in activity in the sun. https://www.reuters.com/science/solar-flares-bathe-swathes-siberia-scarlet-northern-lights-2023-11-06/

2023-11-06 06:23

NEW YORK, Nov 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar edged higher against the euro on Monday, after earlier dipping to an almost 8-week low on growing expectations that the Federal Reserve is done hiking interest rates, with U.S. central bank officials in focus this week for further signals on rate policy. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is due to speak on Wednesday and Thursday, where the focal point will be on whether he maintains the more dovish tone he struck after the Fed’s two-day meeting last week. Comments from other Fed officials will also be evaluated for signs on whether they expect further rate increases. “Even though last week’s statement was unanimous, I do suspect that Powell’s view isn’t very widely shared, so I suspect we will start to see a divergence between the doves and the hawks on the FOMC,” said Bipan Rai, North American head of FX strategy at CIBC Capital Markets in Toronto, referring to the Fed's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee. Fed Gov. Lisa Cook said on Monday that she hopes the central bank's current target interest rate is adequate to return inflation to the Fed's 2% target. Weaker than expected jobs growth in October released on Friday added to expectations of a slowing U.S. economy, which would support the Fed continuing to hold rates steady. The next major driver for markets will likely be next week’s consumer price inflation data for October. “Next week’s CPI print is going to be the best adjudicator we have on whether or not the Fed needs to hike rates again,” said Rai. “If we do get a weak print ... then the focus shifts toward how much easing is being priced in for next year. If not, if we still do get a strong print, then we could see some dip buying in the dollar against several other currencies,” he added. The dollar index was last up 0.13% on the day at 105.19 after earlier dropping to 104.84, the weakest since Sept. 20. The index fell 1.4% last week, its largest weekly decline since July. The euro dipped 0.06% to $1.0723 after earlier rallying to $1.0756, the highest since Sept. 13. Economic weakness in the euro zone relative to the U.S. may cap further gains in the single currency against the greenback. "You could still see a somewhat weaker dollar in the short term, but if the (euro-dollar) rally continues, it needs to get some fuel from somewhere," said Dane Cekov, senior FX strategist at Nordea. A survey on Monday showed that the downturn in euro zone business activity accelerated last month as demand in the dominant services industry weakened further, suggesting there is a growing chance of a recession in the 20-country currency union. The dollar rose 0.41% to 149.98 Japanese yen . Cekov said the yen likely needs to be around the 155 per dollar area for Japanese authorities to consider intervention or to talk the currency up. The yen hit 151.74 per dollar last week, edging close to October 2022 lows that spurred several rounds of dollar-selling intervention by the Bank of Japan. The Australian dollar fell 0.34% to $0.6491, after earlier reaching a three-month high of $.6523. The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to raise its key policy rate by 25 basis points to 4.35% on Tuesday after keeping borrowing costs steady at its last four meetings. ======================================================== Currency bid prices at 3:00PM (2000 GMT) https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/dollar-steady-remains-vulnerable-after-fed-steer-2023-11-06/

2023-11-06 06:21

SHANGHAI, Nov 6 (Reuters) - China recorded its first-ever quarterly deficit in foreign direct investment (FDI), according to balance of payments data, underscoring capital outflow pressure and Beijing's challenge in wooing overseas companies in the wake of a "de-risking" move by Western governments. Direct investment liabilities - a broad measure of FDI that includes foreign companies' retained earnings in China - were a deficit of $11.8 billion during the July-September period, according to preliminary balance of payments data. That's the first quarterly shortfall since China's foreign exchange regulator began compiling the data in 1998, which could be linked to the impact of "de-risking" by Western countries from China, as well as China's interest rate disadvantage. "Some of the weakness in China's inward FDI may be due to multinational companies repatriating earnings," Goldman Sachs wrote. "With interest rates in China 'lower for longer' while interest rates outside of China 'higher for longer', capital outflow pressures are likely to persist." Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at Capital Economics, said the unusually-large interest rate gap "has led firms to remit their retained earnings out of the country". Although he sees little evidence that foreign companies are, on aggregate, reducing their presence in China, "we do think that, over the medium-term at least, increasing geopolitical tensions will hamper China's ability to attract FDI and instead favour emerging markets that are more friendly to the West." Driven by the FDI outflows, China's basic balance - which encompasses current account and direct investment balances and are more stable than volatile portfolio investments - recorded a deficit of $3.2 billion, the second quarterly shortfall on record. "Given these unfolding dynamics, which are poised to exert pressure on the RMB, we anticipate a sustained strategic response from China's authorities," Tommy Xie, head of Greater China Research at OCBC wrote. Onshore yuan trading against the dollar also hit record-low volume in October, official data showed, highlighting authorities' stepped-up efforts to curb yuan selling. Xie expects China's central bank to continue counter-cyclical interventions - including a strong bias in daily yuan fixings and managing yuan liquidity in the offshore market- to support the currency in the face of these headwinds. Latest data shows that onshore volume of yuan trading against the dollar slumped to a record low of 1.85 trillion yuan ($254.05 billion) in October, a 73% drop from the August level. The People's Bank of China has urged major banks to limit trading and dissuade clients to exchange the yuan for the dollar, sources have told Reuters. In September, foreign exchange outflows from China rose sharply to $75 billion, the biggest monthly figure since 2016, Goldman Sachs data showed. ($1 = 7.2819 Chinese yuan renminbi) https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-first-deficit-foreign-investment-signals-wests-de-risking-pressure-2023-11-06/

2023-11-06 06:13

BEIJING, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Unseasonably cold weather and blizzards hit northeast China on Monday, forcing hundreds of flights to be rescheduled and closing schools as several cities issued heightened weather alerts and warned people to stay indoors. As of 10:30 a.m. (0230 GMT), 405 flights were cancelled at Harbin Taiping International Airport in the capital of Heilongjiang, the country's northernmost province, according to data from third-party travel app Flight Master. Earlier, Heilongjiang's government said operations were otherwise normal at the airport. Most parts of Harbin suspended primary and secondary schools, kindergartens, and off-campus training institutions, according to the government's official WeChat account, as snow and freezing temperatures hit the region. Many flights were also cancelled in Jilin and Liaoning provinces, and in the Inner Mongolia region, Flight Master showed. Video from a local newspaper showed many travellers stranded in a railway station as heavy snow lashed Jilin's Changchun city, with some trains from the city suspended. China's weather authority warned of a drastic drop in temperature in coming days, along with blizzards, anticipated to substantially affect several cities, state media reported. "The season changed outside overnight," a netizen from Heilongjiang complained on Weibo, China's popular social media platform. Provinces and cities upgraded weather response protocols as heavy snowfall is expected in parts of Inner Mongolia, and Hebei, Jilin and Liaoning provinces, China Daily reported. On Monday, Inner Mongolia, and Liaoning and Jilin provinces suspended schools. Late on Sunday, Heilongjiang issued a red alert - the country's highest weather advisory - as cities in the province were expected to see 20 mm (0.787 inches) to 40 mm (1.575 inches) of blizzard precipitation into Monday evening, according to Chinese weather forecasters, China Daily reported. The Central Meteorological Observatory said some areas could see 8-10 cm (3.14 to 3.94 inches) of snow and temperatures in many regions would drop sharply. Chinese weather forecasters kept orange alerts for blizzards in several areas, while China's National Meteorological Centre issued an orange alert for blizzards and a blue alert for cold waves and strong wind, Global Times reported. China has a four-tier colour-coded weather alert system, with red the highest, followed by orange, yellow and blue. In Harbin, social media video footage showed residents battling gale force winds and sliding and stumbling as they made their way down icy streets. The cold forced governments in Beijing and Tianjin to make preparations to supply heat earlier than usual, according to city government notices. Over the past week, northern China has experienced unseasonably odd contrasts in weather from smog to logging the second-warmest October in decades and then a sharp drop in temperatures over the weekend. The Central Meteorological Administration said this week most of the northeast is expected to see temperatures dive to the single digits or below freezing as cold air moves east and south. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/northeast-china-blizzards-cancel-flights-force-school-closures-2023-11-06/

2023-11-06 06:05

MANILA, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Japan, South Korea and India have offered to finance three Philippine railway projects worth nearly $5 billion, the country's transport chief said on Monday, after Manila dropped China as a funding source last year. Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said the Philippine government could tap the three countries for possible official development assistance (ODA). He said the government may also fund a portion of the rail projects or seek private sector investments. "We're exploring these. We cannot give any details yet," Bautista told a media forum. The rail projects are the Subic-Clark Railway Project, the Philippine National Railways South Long-Haul Project and the Davao-Digos segment of the Mindanao Railway Project, collectively worth $4.95 billion. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr had ordered officials last year to renegotiate loan agreements with China, which were considered "withdrawn" after the Chinese government failed to act on the funding request. But Bautista said the government had to look for other financing options since there was no progress on the loan negotiations with China on the rail projects, which began in 2018 during the term of former President Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte pursued warmer ties with Beijing and set aside territorial disputes in exchange for billions of dollars in aid when he was president. Marcos replaced him in June last year. From more than 1,100 km (680 miles) before World War II, the Philippines had only 77 km of operational railway as of 2016, well behind other urban centres across Asia, government data shows. Marcos has promised to modernise the country's railway system. Construction of the Philippines' first subway train, funded by loans from Japan, is underway in the capital region. ($1 = 55.8000 Philippine pesos) https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/philippines-says-japan-skorea-india-offer-fund-railway-projects-2023-11-06/