2024-07-23 02:53

MUMBAI, July 23 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee, teetering at an all-time low, is expected to open largely unchanged on Tuesday, with the upcoming federal budget and the stock market's reaction to it likely to dictate intraday direction. Non-deliverable forwards indicate the rupee will open at flat from 83.6575 in the previous session. The rupee on Monday dropped to a lifetime low of 83.6775. "Expectedly, a new high (on dollar/rupee) did not lead to any sort of pickup in volatility. This to me is yet once more indication of how the Reserve Bank of India has changed the market," Kunal Kurani, associate vice president at Mecklai Financial, said. In terms of the budget, "what equities do in reaction to the budget will be most important" for the rupee, he said. At this level on the rupee, it is likely that it is "more vulnerable than otherwise", he said. The rupee after having dipped to a lifetime low just after noon on Monday was in a narrow range. "Expectations that RBI will almost certainly intervene means that interbank does not have the appetite to purse momentum and break outs," a currency trader at a bank said. "Anyway, the impact of the budget will not last beyond a day." India finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will lay out the federal budget at 11.00 a.m. IST. Apart from the equity market's reaction, the rupee will be eyeing the fiscal deficit target. Median forecasts in a Reuters poll showed the fiscal deficit target at 5.1%, matching February's interim budget. Indian equities and debt have witnessed robust this month with overseas investors pouring in $5 billion. Whether the budget has any impact on these flows is what will be important for the rupee, according to traders. KEY INDICATORS: ** One-month non-deliverable rupee forward at 83.72; onshore one-month forward premium at 7.50 paisa ** Dollar index down at 104.26 ** Brent crude futures up 0.2% at $82.6 per barrel ** Ten-year U.S. note yield at 4.24% ** As per NSDL data, foreign investors bought a net $218.1mln worth of Indian shares on July 19 ** NSDL data shows foreign investors bought a net $190.1mln worth of Indian bonds on July 19 Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/indian-rupee-eyes-rbi-equity-reaction-budget-2024-07-23/

2024-07-23 00:41

NEW YORK, July 23 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell about 2% to a six-week low on Tuesday on rising expectations of a ceasefire in Gaza and growing concerns about demand in China. Brent futures fell $1.39, or 1.7%, to settle at $81.01 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) closed $1.44, or 1.8%, lower at $76.96. That was the lowest closes for Brent and WTI since June 7 and pushed both benchmarks into technically oversold territory for the first time since early June. U.S. diesel futures also settled at their lowest since June 7, while gasoline futures closed at their lowest since June 14. In the Middle East, efforts to reach a ceasefire deal between Israel and militant group Hamas under a plan outlined by U.S. President Joe Biden in May and mediated by Egypt and Qatar, have gained momentum over the past month. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told families of hostages held in Gaza that a deal to secure their release could be near even as fighting raged in the Palestinian enclave. Biden is expected to meet Netanyahu on Thursday at the White House. The war in Gaza has lent support to oil futures as investors priced in the risk of potential disruptions to global crude supply in the key producing regions of the Middle East. United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg warned of a real danger of a devastating regional escalation following new Iran-backed Houthi attacks on commercial shipping and the first Israeli air strikes on Yemen in retaliation for Houthi drone and missile attacks on Israel. Palestinian factions including rivals Hamas and Fatah, meanwhile, agreed to end their divisions and form an interim national unity government during negotiations in China. "Ceasefire negotiations in the Middle East and an uncertain macroeconomic outlook in China are exerting downward pressure on oil prices this week," Claudio Galimberti, global market analysis director at Rystad said in a note. Also weighing on prices, the U.S. dollar (.DXY) , opens new tab strengthened to a nine-day high against a basket of other currencies. A stronger greenback makes oil more expensive in other countries, which can reduce demand for the fuel. INTEREST RATE CUTS Growing bets on interest rate cuts in September, however, could provide a floor to oil prices, as lower borrowing costs tend to support oil demand. European Central Bank Vice-President Luis de Guindos hinted at a possible interest rate cut in September, while in the U.S., investors are betting the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September. The Fed hiked rates aggressively in 2022 and 2023 to tame a surge in inflation. Higher interest rates increase borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, which can reduce economic growth and demand for oil. China surprised markets by cutting major short and long-term interest rates on Monday, its first such broad move since last August, signalling intent to boost growth in the world's second-largest economy. U.S. CRUDE STOCKPILES The market is looking for direction from weekly U.S. oil storage data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) trade group later on Tuesday and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday. Analysts projected U.S. energy firms pulled about 1.6 million barrels of crude out of storage during the week ended July 19. , If correct, that would be the first time U.S. crude stocks declined for four weeks in a row since September 2023 and compares with a decrease of 600,000 barrels in the same week last year and an average decline of 1.8 million barrels over the past five years (2019-2023). Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-prices-fall-predictions-swelling-crude-inventories-weak-demand-2024-07-23/

2024-07-22 23:44

Q4 revenue falls Market prices has remained low, says Lynas Shares hit lowest since April 11 July 23 (Reuters) - Lynas Rare Earths (LYC.AX) , opens new tab posted a drop in quarterly revenue on Tuesday, hit by production decline at its Kalgoorlie facility in Western Australia and lower underlying prices, sending its shares to a more than three-month low. Shares of the rare earths miner fell as much as 2.8% to hit A$5.880, their lowest level since April 11. Lynas' Malaysian operations also went through a maintenance shutdown during the reported period, which the rare earths miner indicated took over a month. Total rare-earth oxide output for the fourth quarter ended June 30 was at 2,188 REO tons, plunging more than 50% from a year ago. "The main bearings on one of the kilns failed and required a maintenance shutdown that took over a month," Lynas said, referring to its downstream Malaysian operations. Sluggish demand from green energy companies and electric automakers, coupled with rising global supply, have severely dented rare earth products' prices. "Rare-earths markets continue to be impacted by weakened Chinese demand and high-supply chain inventories....don't currently see near-term support on price," Jefferies analysts wrote in a note. Lynas said market prices remained low despite a slight improvement in Chinese domestic end-product demand. The average selling price was A$42.3 per kilogram in the quarter, the company said, compared with A$43.5 per kg a year earlier. Earlier this month, Lynas flagged disruptions to BHP's ability to supply sulphuric acid, a key ingredient in rare-earths processing, to its Kalgoorlie facility, after BHP suspended its Western Australia nickel operations. Lynas said it had been working on contingencies with the world's largest miner aimed at the continued supply of acid to the Kalgoorlie plant. The world's largest producer of rare earths outside China posted sales revenue of A$136.6 million ($90.72 million) for the quarter, compared with A$157.5 million a year ago. ($1 = 1.5058 Australian dollars) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/australias-lynas-rare-earths-fourth-quarter-revenue-falls-133-2024-07-22/

2024-07-22 22:11

WASHINGTON, July 22 (Reuters) - The top two lawmakers on the Senate energy committee on Monday introduced long-awaited legislation to speed permitting of power transmission, mining and liquefied natural gas export projects. Senators Joe Manchin, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, and John Barrasso, a Republican, said their bill would strengthen the power grid and help keep power prices low. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Building transmission capacity would help get electricity to cities from renewable power projects, many of which have gotten financial support from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Nearly 2,000 MW of clean energy is awaiting grid connection. The bill could help speed the Biden administration's goal to decarbonize the U.S. power sector by 2035. The bill gives companies more chances to bid on offshore oil and gas leasing between 2025 and 2029. In addition, the legislation sets a 90-day deadline for a secretary of energy to approve or deny liquefied natural gas export applications, which Barrasso said would "permanently end" President Joe Biden's pause on such approvals. KEY QUOTES "For far too long, Washington’s disastrous permitting system has shackled American energy production and punished families in Wyoming and across our country," said Barrasso, of Wyoming, the nation's top coal producing state. "Congress must step in and fix this process." Manchin, called it a "commonsense, bipartisan piece of legislation that will speed up permitting and provide more certainty for all types of energy and mineral projects without bypassing important protections for our environment and impacted communities." The National Mining Association said the bill could help unlock mining for important minerals used in transmission, renewable energy and energy storage, such as copper. WHAT HURDLES DOES THE BILL FACE? Prospects for the bill to advance are uncertain given election-year politics and potential opposition to its measures supporting fossil fuel. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-senators-introduce-bill-speed-approvals-energy-projects-2024-07-22/

2024-07-22 21:49

July 23 - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets by Alden Bentley. Judging by Wall Street's surge Monday, the exit of President Joe Biden from November's election was a relief but also a wash in that it both adds and removes dreaded uncertainty. To the extent Biden's decision was a trading factor, we might be seeing equal parts enthusiasm for presumptive Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris running on the strong Biden economy, and a modified Trump trade because the former president still leads in the polls, albeit by less than he did than against Biden, according to politics monitoring site PredictIt. It's too early to have much bearing on Asia trading and anyway anticipation of Fed easing and a deluge of U.S. company results are more immediately salient 3-1/2 months before Americans head to the polls. Earnings are the focus until later in the week, especially with mega caps Alphabet and Tesla reporting after the bell on Tuesday. Macro wise, the first read on Q2 U.S. GDP comes Thursday and the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index on Friday, both seen as pivotal to any Fed decision. Markets see a 25 basis point cut in September as a near certainty. Conversely, markets seemed unprepared for China's lowering of short- and long-term interest rates on Monday. Investors treated it as more of a desperate act than confidence builder, emphasizing how weak the second largest economy was. Chinese blue chips (.CSI300) , opens new tab slipped 0.9% along with the yuan. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS closed 0.61% lower, having shed 3% last week. If the Nikkei 225 followed its U.S. peers down 1.16% on Monday, led by tumbling chip-related stocks, then Nvidia's (NVDA.O) , opens new tab surge could shore up sentiment for Tuesday. Reuters reported it was working on a version of its new flagship AI chips for the China market that would comply with U.S. export controls. Magnificent Seven stocks that had weighed heavy last week such as Alphabet (GOOGL.O) , opens new tab, Meta Platforms (META.O) , opens new tab and Tesla (TSLA.O) , opens new tab also stormed back. Overall, U.S. earnings growth so far looks even better than heightened expectations going into the reporting season. Based on the 74 S&P 500 companies that had reported results as of Friday, LSEG raised its estimate for year-over-year growth to 11.1% from 9.6% 10 days ago. The S&P 500 ended 1.08% higher and the Nasdaq 1.58% higher, led by tech. Energy, one of the big Trump plays, was the worst performing sector. There was some analysis that bets could be scaled back on victory for Republican Trump that would increase U.S. fiscal and inflationary pressures. Markets could also think an increased chance of a divided government under the next administration is a good thing. There is no clear cut election dollar play, absent a specific call for a strong (or weak!) dollar from one of the candidates. Still, expectations that Trump as president would cut taxes and raise tariffs added support to the dollar index . But that works against Japanese policy goal of strengthening the yen and dollar/yen was slightly lower at 157.10 in late trade. Here are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Tuesday: - Japan flash PMI (July) - Taiwan jobless rate (June) - S Korea PPI (June) - Singapore CPI (June) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/global-markets-view-asia-2024-07-22/

2024-07-22 21:47

July 22 (Reuters) - (This July 22 story has been corrected to say that the acquisition will increase Archrock's Permian Basin compression capacity by 30%, not entire capacity, in paragraph 2) Energy infrastructure company Archrock (AROC.N) , opens new tab said on Monday it would buy contract gas compression services provider Total Operations and Production Services (TOPS) for about $983 million in cash and stock from Apollo Global Management funds. The acquisition will increase Archrock's Permian Basin compression capacity by 30% to nearly 2.2 million operating horsepower and its Permian-based assets will represent more than half of its total operating horsepower. The transaction comes as dealmaking in the Permian shale basin, the largest U.S. oilfield that straddles West Texas and New Mexico, has extended to this year after a bumper 2023. "The transaction is expected to be more than 10% accretive to earnings per share and more than 20% accretive to cash available for dividend per share in 2025," Archrock CEO Brad Childers said in a statement. Houston, Texas-based Archrock will issue 6.87 million new shares to TOPS, and will fund the $826 million cash portion with a combination of equity and debt. Archrock's shares were down 6.9% in extended trading. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2024. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/archrock-buy-total-operations-production-services-983-mln-2024-07-22/