2024-06-12 05:14

SANTIAGO, June 12 (Reuters) - Mining giant BHP (BHP.AX) New Tab, opens new tab and the union representing workers at its Spence copper mine in Chile have agreed to extend contract negotiations, said BHP on Wednesday, for now putting off the risk of a strike. The union represents more than 1,100 workers at the copper mine located in northern Chile. Their previous collective agreement expired on May 31. "Final Offer proposal must be presented to its (union) bases to be voted, so both parties agreed to extend the mediation in three days", said BHP in a statement. BHP said that the Spence mine, which produced 249,000 metric tons of copper last year, is operating as normal while the firm seeks an amicable solution with the union. Chile is the world's largest copper producer. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/bhp-chile-mine-union-extend-contract-negotiations-2024-06-12/

2024-06-12 05:10

LONDON, June 12 (Reuters) - A group of 50,000 self-employed women in India have become the first beneficiaries of a novel insurance scheme that pays out when temperatures hit certain extremes. As the temperature crossed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) between May 18 and May 25, the women in the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra all received a flat $5 payment. "This is the first time that insurance payouts and a direct cash assistance program have been combined to supplement the income of women when it's dangerously hot," said Kathy Baughman McLeod, CEO of non-profit Climate Resilience for All, which designed the insurance scheme along with India's Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA). The bulk of the women, some 92%, then went on to receive an additional payout when insurance tied to the local conditions and duration of the extreme heat was triggered, with some receiving up to $19.80 each. Insurance is increasingly seen by policymakers as a tool to help vulnerable communities receive financial support quickly after extreme weather events occur. Total payments across the programme totalled $341,553. The insurance was underwritten by reinsurer Swiss Re and provided locally by ICICI Lombard. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/extreme-heat-triggers-novel-payout-50000-women-india-2024-06-12/

2024-06-12 04:48

MUMBAI, June 12 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee was nearly flat on Wednesday after likely intervention from the Reserve Bank of India helped the currency avert a fall to an all-time low, traders said. The rupee was at 83.56 against the U.S. dollar as of 10:00 a.m. IST, barely changed from its close of 83.5650 in the previous session. The RBI likely intervened in the non-deliverable forwards (NDF) market, before the local spot market opened at 09:00 a.m. IST, to support the rupee, traders said. Routine interventions by the RBI, including in the NDF market, have supported the currency over recent trading sessions. The RBI's interventions in the NDF market have "undergone a change... We are now very clear and explicit that the RBI is there in the forward market," RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Friday during a post-monetary policy press conference. The central bank has changed tactics in the way it seeks to limit rupee volatility, with the use of non-deliverable forwards now overtaking spot market interventions, Reuters reported earlier. Dollar bids from local oil companies are present but the currency is likely to stay in a narrow range now that the RBI has "signalled to the market" that it will prevent further weakness, a foreign exchange trader at a state-run bank said. The dollar index was at 105.3 while Asian currencies were mostly rangebound, with investors awaiting the release of key U.S. consumer inflation data and the Federal Reserve's policy decision due later in the day. The Fed is expected to keep rates unchanged but policymakers will put out their new interest rate projections. "Asia FX could thus face volatility from a potential upward shift in the Fed’s median dot plot, which could push US yields and the US dollar higher," Lloyd Chan, senior currency analyst at MUFG Bank said in a note. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/rupee-averts-record-low-likely-cenbank-hand-ndf-market-2024-06-12/

2024-06-12 04:33

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Tom Westbrook Markets are likely to stay tentative through Europe's morning hours ahead of a blockbuster session in the U.S., where inflation data is due out in the morning before the Federal Reserve meets to set rates and publish its economic projections. It's likely to overshadow final German CPI numbers and Britain's monthly GDP figures due in the London day. Economists expect U.S. headline inflation steadied at an annual 3.4% in May. If it's much hotter than that it will not be well received by equity markets perched at record highs, particularly if it seems to reverse the cheered cooling notched in April. Markets expect the Fed to leave interest rates on hold and so the focus will be on the economic projections and how Chairman Jerome Powell explains them at his press conference. On rates, the Fed's median projection at the March meeting was for three cuts this year. That is likely to change in response to sticky inflation and a strong economy. Markets currently price about 40 basis points of rate cuts in 2024. So if the median projection were to fall to just one 25 bp cut it would be a blow, while zero would be super hawkish. A lot may depend on how Powell frames it: Do fewer cuts this year mean more next year, or not? In March, Fed policymakers saw longer-run interest rates between 2.4% and 3.8%, as they had in December. But the median projection ticked up from 2.5% to 2.6%. In March just one policymaker expected long-run rates below 2.5%, down from five a year earlier. If those projections start creeping up it could derail the bond rally that was already jolted by last week's surprisingly strong jobs report. In the Asia day, China's consumer price index fell 0.1% in May from a month earlier, disappointing forecasts, as price wars exacerbate deflationary pressure in the world's second-biggest economy. Japan's wholesale inflation jumped in May at the fastest annual pace in nine months, as the weak yen added upward pressure on prices. The data complicates the Bank of Japan's decision, on Friday, on how soon to raise interest rates. Overnight implied volatility for dollar/yen spiked to its highest in six weeks as traders strapped in for the ride. Key developments that could influence markets on Wednesday: -US CPI -Federal Reserve meeting -German final CPI, UK monthly GDP estimate Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/global-markets-view-europe-2024-06-12/

2024-06-12 04:12

June 12 (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he wants all remaining Bitcoin to be made in the U.S. The crypto industry is increasingly trying to influence U.S. politicians as it faces heightened scrutiny from regulators, especially since bankruptcies at major crypto firms in 2022 spooked investors, exposed fraud and misconduct, and left millions of investors out of pocket. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-he-wants-all-remaining-bitcoin-be-made-us-2024-06-12/

2024-06-12 04:09

MUMBAI, June 12 (Reuters) - India's central bank likely intervened in the non-deliverable forward market before the local spot market opened on Wednesday, to prevent the rupee from dropping to an all-time low, six traders said. The rupee was at 83.5525 to the U.S. dollar, only marginally away from the 83.5750 all-time low it hit in April. The currency opened at 83.5450. It would have probably opened at a new low if not for the Reserve Bank of India's intervention, traders said. The RBI "hammered" dollar/rupee before the open, an fx salesperson at a private sector bank said. The central bank has regularly intervened in both the NDF and the local spot market to keep a check on the rupee. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/india-cenbank-likely-intervened-ndf-stop-rupee-hitting-record-low-traders-say-2024-06-12/