2024-08-13 11:27

MOSCOW, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Traders are moving Russian diesel cargoes to a new ship-to-ship (STS) loadings site in the northern Aegean Sea, as Western sanctions hit vessels carrying fuel loaded in Russian ports, LSEG and market sources data show. Since a full European Union embargo on importing Russian oil products took effect in February 2023, traders have diverted diesel exports from Russian ports to Brazil, Turkey, countries in Africa, Asia and STS loadings. STS loadings make it harder for Western countries to trace trade in Russian oil products. International waters off Greece's Laconian Gulf became one of the most popular locations for STS loading of Russian oil products in Europe due to their proximity both to Russian ports and the Suez Canal, which offers access to Asian markets. In April, Greece issued two notices for military exercises in the Laconian Gulf area, urging merchant and other vessels to avoid the area. Tankers carrying Russian oil products moved from waters off the southeastern Peloponnese mostly to Malta and Port Said in northern Egypt. In July, at least four vessels carrying about 123,000 metric tons combined of diesel and gasoil loaded at Russia's Black Sea ports of Taman and Tuapse went for transhipment to the neutral waters south of the Greek island of Chios, LSEG data shows. Three more vessels have been loaded in Tuapse with a total of about 100,000 tons of gasoil in August so far and are also heading towards STS south of islands in the north Aegean, according to the traders and shipping data. The latest EU sanctions could be another reason for the pick up in STS activity, market sources said. In June, EU countries adopted a fourteenth package of sanctions against Russia, which aimed to crack down on the so-called shadow fleet of foreign vessels transporting its oil products. Russia is exporting around 3.5 million metric tons per month of low-sulphur diesel and gasoil, including up to 0.8 million tons from Tuapse and Taman, according to LSEG data. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/ship-to-ship-loadings-russian-diesel-pick-up-northern-aegean-2024-08-13/

2024-08-13 11:20

Aug 13 (Reuters) - Bitcoin miner Bitfarms (BITF.TO) , opens new tab said on Tuesday its co-founder and chair Nicolas Bonta, one of the three board members its rival and top shareholder Riot Platforms (RIOT.O) , opens new tab sought to replace, will exit immediately. The two companies have been locked in a dispute since April, when Riot made an unsolicited $950 million offer to acquire the Canada-based company. Bitfarms said the bid undervalued it and adopted a poison pill to fend off any attempts at a hostile takeover. Riot withdrew its offer, but is seeking three board seats on Bitfarms, and has said it is "ready to engage" with the reconstituted board on a potential transaction. Bitfarms said its lead director Brian Howlett will replace Bonta, and its newly appointed CEO Ben Gagnon will also join the board. Additionally, the company said Liam Wilson will be its new chief operating officer. He was previously the COO of digital assets infrastructure firm Mawson Infrastructure Group (MIGI.O) , opens new tab. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/bitcoin-miner-bitfarms-chair-bonta-step-down-2024-08-13/

2024-08-13 11:12

BENGALURU, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Indian gold-loan provider Manappuram Finance (MNFL.NS) , opens new tab reported a first-quarter profit rise on Tuesday, helped by strong gold-loan growth. The company's consolidated net profit attributable to owners rose about 12% to 5.55 billion rupees ($66 million) for the three months ended June 30, in line with analysts' expectations, according to LSEG data. Benchmark spot gold prices have risen more than 20% as of June-end from a year ago, hitting record highs, bolstering loan growth for lenders such as Manappuram. Rising prices of bullion benefit gold financiers by increasing the value of pledged gold collateral, and driving growth as more customers seek loans against their higher-valued assets. Analysts expect Manappuram to also have benefited from a regulatory ban on key competitor IIFL Finance (IIFL.NS) , opens new tab disbursing gold loans. Revenue from Manappuram's gold loan and other businesses rose 23.5% to 17.37 billion rupees, while its microfinance arm posted a near 18% revenue growth to 7.75 billion rupees. Its assets under management rose 21.2% year-on-year to 449 billion rupees. Finance cost rose about 31%, leading to a near 28% rise in total expenses, after India's central bank raised risk weights for bank loans given to non-banking financial companies. The company's provision for bad loans jumped 80% to 2.29 billion rupees. Larger rival Muthoot Finance (MUTT.NS) , opens new tab posted an 11% rise in first-quarter profit but missed analysts' estimates. ($1 = 83.9350 Indian rupees) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/indias-manappuram-finance-posts-q1-profit-rise-strong-gold-loan-growth-2024-08-13/

2024-08-13 10:22

LONDON, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Systematic trading strategies including those run by hedge funds continue to dump trades, adding to about $109 billion of global equity futures sold in the past month, Goldman Sachs strategist Scott Rubner said in a note seen by Reuters on Tuesday. Selling will likely continue into the autumn, and the second half of September might prove "a tricky trading environment," said the note, which was released on Monday. A systematic trading strategy uses strict rules rather than a speculator's gut feeling, and sometimes includes coding and algorithms, to guide trading and investment decisions. August kicked off with a meltdown in world equity markets that started after investor positioning in the yen and other currencies was wrong-footed by a Bank of Japan interest rate hike and weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs data. Rubner said one factor that drove the meltdown was systematic trading programs used by so-called "commodity trading advisors" (CTA) that ride market trends, but when certain risk thresholds are reached, require the trading programme to ditch the position. "Systematic rules-based deleveraging from CTA strategies remain the most important impact in the market period...We just witnessed one of the largest and fastest unwinds that I have seen," said Rubner, a tactical strategist for Goldman. LEVERAGE AT A PEAK Leverage used by hedge funds to increase the size of trades is at a record high for the last decade, according to data provided by the Office of Financial Research's Hedge Fund Monitor. Its data shows that U.S.-registered hedge funds ended March with $2.3 trillion in borrowing from prime brokers, up roughly 63% from December 2019 and outpacing their assets' growth. Traders dropped the bulk of stock futures over the past week, totaling around $80 billion, after Monday's brutal stock selloff triggered by the unwinding of billions of dollars' worth of leveraged trades, the Goldman note said. Wall Street's favoured market fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) , opens new tab, closed at its highest in nearly four years on Aug. 5. In the last three weeks, top book liquidity in benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab stocks, the number of trades visibly on offer to buy and sell, has fallen 80%, data from the note showed. This number, indicating how easy it would be to purchase or leave stock trades, has sunk to $5 million currently, from $26 million in July, it said. Options bets against volatility or wagers that stock markets would stay calm have also continued to unwind, said the note. Pension funds seasonally rebalance in September and this time, they'll "further sell" equity exposure, it added. Given pensions' increased funded status, or the balance between what they owe to savers and the value of their investment assets, Rubner reckoned these investors, some of the biggest in the world, would take advantage of lower bond yields and drop stocks in favour of fixed income. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/stock-dump-sparked-by-yen-spike-will-drag-says-goldman-sachs-strategist-2024-08-13/

2024-08-13 10:18

MOSCOW, Aug 13 (Reuters) - The Russian broker organising an asset swap scheme that could free up frozen funds for Russian and foreign investors said on Tuesday it had managed to sell 8.1 billion roubles ($87.19 million) worth of securities to non-resident investors. It was not immediately clear whether foreign investors would be able to access the securities. The broker, Investitsionnaya Palata (Investment Chamber), said additional sanctions imposed while it was collecting bids mean non-resident investors need more time to assess the procedure and risks. Under the plan, foreign investors would use funds frozen in Russia to buy shares held by Russian investors in the West in companies like Alphabet, Tesla and Microsoft. Similar arrangements would be made in reverse. Moscow has presented the plan as a way for both Russian and foreign investors to free up assets that have been blocked by Western sanctions and Russian countermeasures since the start of the war in Ukraine more than two years ago. However, it remains unclear whether Western authorities would cooperate with the asset swaps. Grigory Marinichev, a lawyer at Morgan Lewis, previously told Reuters that only two of his firm's more than 100 mostly U.S. clients with blocked assets in Russia had expressed even cautious interest in participating. Many frozen assets of Russian investors are held in Europe. Euroclear, one of the depositories that holds Russian securities, previously said it was difficult to assess whether the Russian proposal was viable. Investitsionnaya Palata, which is not under Western sanctions, said it had sold about a quarter of the securities submitted for redemption from Russia-based investors, with more than 708,000 individuals partially selling securities, which had been divided into 100 lots, each worth 353.1 million roubles. ($1 = 92.9000 roubles) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-broker-oversees-sale-87-mln-worth-frozen-securities-foreign-investors-2024-08-13/

2024-08-13 10:15

MUMBAI, Aug 13 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee ended nearly unchanged on Tuesday as intervention by the central bank helped avert a fall to the key psychological support level of 84 to the dollar. The rupee closed at 83.97, nearly unchanged from its close at its all-time low of 83.9725 in the previous session. The currency hovered near its record low through the session. The Reserve Bank of India likely sold dollars, via state-run banks, near 83.97 levels to support the local currency, traders said. With the RBI not keen to allow the rupee to weaken further, the 83.90-83.97 range should hold in the near-term, at least till U.S. consumer inflation data is out, a trader at a foreign bank said. The U.S. will report retail inflation data on Wednesday. Indian financial markets are closed on Thursday. The dollar index was up 0.1% at 103.2 while most Asian currencies rose, with the Indonesian rupiah up 0.7% and leading gains. Concerns about a slowdown in the U.S. and unwinding of carry trades had spurred a bout of volatility in global markets last week, which has now subsided. Odds of the Federal Reserve cutting rates by 25 basis points or 50 basis points in September were evenly split. "We continue to look for a soft landing in the U.S. and weak recoveries in Europe and Asia. For FX markets, this should mean a shift to some orderly dollar weakness from the disorderly position adjustment of recent weeks," ING Bank said in a note. Dollar-rupee forward premiums ticked up, with the 1-year implied yield up 2 basis points at 2.04%. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/rupee-holds-above-84-per-dollar-cenbank-retains-grip-2024-08-13/