2024-07-19 12:41

MOSCOW, July 19 (Reuters) - A semisubmersible drilling rig called Severnoye Siyaniye (Polar Lights) is due to arrive at the Russian Pacific island of Sakhalin on Saturday to drill a well at a field hit by U.S. sanctions, the Russian agency for sea and river transport said. The platform was in the Chinese port of Zhoushan for planned maintenance and is due to drill a well at the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye field, the agency said. Washington put the field under sanctions in 2015 for Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis. Industry sources and analysts have said that natural gas from the fields off Sakhalin could be used for a pipeline to China. Moscow and Beijing agreed in early 2022 to boost supplies of Russian gas via a new pipeline, which would export 10 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year. The field, part of the Kirinsky block in the Sea of Okhotsk, also contains oil. The sanctions are related to exploration for or production of oil or gas in Russian deep waters. The U.S. sanctions prevent foreign companies from tapping hydrocarbons at such fields, and possible gas exports from Yuzhno-Kirinskoye could indicate that Russia has learned how to get around the sanctions. Russia now supplies gas to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline, which began operations in December 2019 under a 30-year contract worth more than $400 billion. It is due to reach full capacity of 38 bcm a year in 2025. According to Gazprom's data, Yuzhno-Kirinskoye's reserves amount to 711.2 billion cubic metres of natural gas, 111.5 million tonnes of gas condensate and 4.1 million tonnes of oil. Production of gas is seen there at 21 bcm per year. The rig was put into operations in 2011. It is capable of carrying out exploration and production drilling of gas and oil wells to a depth of up to 7,500 metres at sea depths in the range of up to 500 metres. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/huge-drilling-rig-due-arrive-russias-sakhalin-island-saturday-2024-07-19/

2024-07-19 12:30

July 19 (Reuters) - Companies across several industries including airlines, banking and media were hit on Friday by a global tech outage tied to Microsoft's (MSFT.O) , opens new tab Azure cloud platform and a software issue at cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike (CRWD.O) , opens new tab. The issue impacted computers running the Windows operating system and CrowdStrike software. CrowdStrike said it was working with impacted customers and had deployed a fix for the issue, which stemmed from an update it issued for Windows users. Here are a few key details about CrowdStrike: WHAT IS CrowdStrike? CrowdStrike offers cloud-based security solutions to businesses. Its Falcon tool - one of the reasons for the outage on Friday - identifies unusual behavior and vulnerabilities to protect computer systems from threats such as malware. Founded in 2011 and based in Austin, Texas, CrowdStrike operates in more than 170 countries and employed more than 7,900 people as of January. The U.S. accounted for nearly 70% of the more than $900 million in revenue it reported for the quarter ended April. WHO ARE CROWDSTRIKE'S MAJOR CLIENTS AND COMPETITORS? Some of the world's biggest tech companies including Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) , opens new tab Google, Amazon (AMZN.O) , opens new tab and Intel (INTC.O) , opens new tab are its customers. It has about 29,000 customers across the globe. Its presence spans several sectors with clients including retail giant Target (TGT.N) , opens new tab, Formula One team Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS and the U.S. government. CrowdStrike competes with companies such as Palo Alto Networks (PANW.O) , opens new tab, Zscaler (ZS.O) , opens new tab and Fortinet (FTNT.O) , opens new tab. CrowdStrike'S STOCK VERSUS PEERS Shares of CrowdStrike tumbled nearly 12% in premarket trading on Friday. As of Thursday's close, CrowdStrike had a market value of $83.5 billion, with its stock price up 34% this year, according to LSEG data. In comparison, Palo Alto Networks' stock has gained about 10% year-to-date, with a market capitalization of $104.87 billion. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/what-is-crowdstrike-cybersecurity-firm-behind-global-tech-outage-2024-07-19/

2024-07-19 12:25

BENGALURU, July 19 (Reuters) - UltraTech Cement (ULTC.NS) , opens new tab, India's No.1 cement maker, reported first-quarter earnings below estimates on Friday, hurt by soft demand and muted prices amid intensifying competition, and said growth would pick up only next quarter. Cement prices were hovering around more-than-three-year lows from April to June as attempts to raise prices were stymied by soft demand and an aggressive fight for market share, analysts said. Prices have softened sequentially in July and will likely only start improving from October onwards, Atul Daga, UltraTech's finance chief, said in a post-earnings call. The company's first-quarter profit and revenue both came below analysts' average estimates, according to LSEG data. Its revenue growth of 2% was the slowest in at least five quarters due to an election-linked slowdown in government construction spending. Sales volumes increased 6%, on the lower end of the 5%-11% band estimated by analysts. UltraTech has been fighting to protect its market share, especially from the billionaire Adani Group which has risen to the No.2 spot in just two years via multiple big-ticket acquisitions. The Aditya Birla Group-backed UltraTech has taken the same route, with its last deal being buying a 23% stake worth up to $228 million in India Cements (ICMN.NS) , opens new tab last month. There was speculation UltraTech could increase its stake but Daga, on Friday, said it "can't go beyond" that 23% stake. UltraTech's shares ended 3.3% lower after the results. ($1 = 83.6425 Indian rupees) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/indias-ultratech-cement-misses-q1-earnings-estimates-muted-prices-2024-07-19/

2024-07-19 11:53

MUMBAI, July 19 (Reuters) - India's foreign exchange reserves (INFXR=ECI) , opens new tab rose for a second straight week and hit a record high of $666.85 billion as of July 12, data from the central bank showed on Friday. The reserves rose by $9.7 billion in the reporting week, the biggest jump in four months. Reserves had risen by $5.16 billion in the prior week. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intervenes in the foreign exchange market to curb excess volatility in the rupee. Changes in foreign currency assets are caused by the RBI's intervention as well as the appreciation or depreciation of foreign assets held in the reserves. Foreign exchange reserves also include India's reserve tranche position in the International Monetary Fund. In the week to which the latest foreign exchange data pertains, the rupee traded in a range of 83.43 to 83.5925 and logged marginal weekly losses. The currency settled at a record closing low of 83.6625 on Friday, and logged its third consecutive weekly decline. GOLD BUYING RISES IN JUNE: Separately, the RBI bought 9.3 tonnes of gold in June, sharply higher than the average monthly purchase of 5.6 tonnes until June 28, data from the World Gold Council showed. The central bank's gold purchases in January-June totaled 37.1 tonnes, the highest since 2013, and represents a more-than-three-fold increase from last year, the World Gold Council said in a report dated July 17. The RBI's gold purchases have been the second largest in the world for the first six months of 2024, only after Turkey, and have surpassed those of China, as per the report. FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES (in million U.S. dollars) --------------------------------------------------------- July 12 July 05 2024 2024 --------------------------------------------------------- Foreign currency assets 585,470 577,110 Gold 58,663 57,432 SDRs 18,111 18,036 Reserve Tranche Position 4,609 4,578 ---------------------------------------------------------- Total 666,854 657,155 ---------------------------------------------------------- Source text: (https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx , opens new tab) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/indias-foreign-exchange-reserves-hit-record-high-2024-07-19/

2024-07-19 11:49

July 19 (Reuters) - Asia's foreign reserves have dropped this year as central banks have intervened to support their currencies, with Japan, Indonesia and South Korea leading the declines. Foreign reserves across 12 countries, from Japan to India, fell about $50 billion to $7.5 trillion by the end of June. They had risen 2.2% in the same period last year. Foreign investor flows into Asian bonds dropped 34% in the first half of this year from a year ago, data from exchanges and bond market associations showed. Although the decline in reserves is not severe enough to trigger a financial crisis or cause countries to struggle with their import payments, given that most have healthier balance sheets and controlled external liabilities, analysts note that it could still affect investor sentiment and may lead to portfolio outflows. The import-cover ratios, which indicate the number of months a country can sustain imports if all other inflows cease, have increased for India, South Korea, and China this year. However, these ratios have declined for countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, according to calculations by Reuters. Asian currencies have fallen sharply in the first half of the year as the Federal Reserve's hawkishness and high yields buoyed the dollar. The yen has been the biggest regional loser, with about 11% drop against the dollar, which prompted several rounds of suspected interventions by its central bank to support the currency this year. Meanwhile, Indonesia's central bank also raised its interest rates in April, to curb the rupiah's currency slide and prevent capital outflows. With major events such as U.S. elections and potential shifts in the Federal Reserve's monetary policy coming up this year, regional currencies are expected to experience heightened volatility in the second half. "When the U.S. Fed starts cutting rates eventually, potentially causing temporary depreciation in the dollar, the credibility of Asian central banks will be tested," said Saurav Sen, senior analyst at Gimme Credit. "Countries that have the ability to increase reserves at that time to keep their currencies competitive vs. the dollar will be able to manage volatility. Countries like China and India come to mind," Sen said. Bucking the trend, India's foreign reserves rose 4.9% to $653.71 billion in the first half of the year. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/asian-foreign-reserves-decline-2024-first-half-2024-07-19/

2024-07-19 11:48

DUBAI, July 19 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates foreign ministry said on Friday that its electronic systems were functioning normally again following a global cyber outage that affected numerous countries around the world. The ministry said its attestation services had now resumed regular operations. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/uae-foreign-ministry-says-global-cyber-outage-affected-all-its-electronic-2024-07-19/