2025-10-29 12:25

Oct 29 (Reuters) - China's Sinopec (600028.SS) , opens new tab reported on Wednesday a 32% year-on-year decline in net income for the first three quarters due to lower oil prices and weaker fuel sales. The world's largest refiner by capacity, Sinopec's third-quarter net profit was 8.5 billion yuan ($1.19 billion), largely flat from a year earlier, based on Chinese accounting standards. Net income for the first nine months was 29.98 billion yuan ($4.21 billion), Sinopec said in a stock filing. Sign up here. Between January and September, Sinopec processed 186.4 million metric tons of crude oil, or about 4.98 million barrels per day (bpd), down 2.2% from a year earlier. Sales of refined fuels fell 5.7% year-on-year during the period to 171.4 million tons. Of that, domestic sales made up 133.1 million tons, down 3.6%. As oil prices weakened along with fuel sales, "the company optimized plant utilization and maximized output of the profitable products," Sinopec said. As a result, its refining department raked in 7 billion yuan profit before tax and interests for the 9-month period. Sinopec produced 211.2 million barrels of crude oil during the first three quarters, down 0.1% on the year, while natural gas output rose 4.9% to 1,099.3 billion cubic feet. Capital expenditure for the first nine months reached 71.6 billion yuan, versus 86.35 billion a year earlier, with nearly 60% of the spending on exploration and development projects such as Jiyang shale oil in east China and Tahe oilfield in the northwest. The chemicals segment reported a 8.2 billion yuan loss before tax and interests during the nine-month period, despite a robust 15.4% growth in ethylene output, owing to "continued new capacity release" and "persistently thin margins." Sinopec's Hong Kong-listed shares have dropped 5.2% year-to-date, underperforming the Hang Seng index (.HSI) , opens new tab which has risen 31.3% during the period. (metric ton = 7.3 barrels for crude oil conversion) ($1 = 7.1230 Chinese yuan renminbi) https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/sinopecs-jan-sept-profit-down-third-lower-oil-weaker-fuel-sales-2025-10-29/

2025-10-29 12:24

FTSE 100 up 0.8%, FTSE 250 up 0.2% Glencore gains on strong copper output Next shines after fourth outlook upgrade GSK gains as cancer, HIV drug sales lift 2025 outlook Oct 29 (Reuters) - London stocks gained on Wednesday, with the blue-chip FTSE 100 advancing to a record high for a second consecutive session, on the back of strong forecasts from drugmaker GSK and retailer Next. The FTSE 100 (.FTSE) , opens new tab was up 0.8% to 9,779.32 points, as of 1205 GMT, also helped by a weaker pound that enhances the revenue for internationally-focused companies. The domestically-focused FTSE 250 (.FTMC) , opens new tab edged up 0.2%. Sign up here. Healthcare stocks (.FTUB2010) , opens new tab gained 2% and gave the biggest boost to the FTSE 100. GSK (.GSK.L) , opens new tab gained 3.3% after raising its 2025 sales and earnings forecasts on strong sales of its speciality HIV and cancer medicines. Next's (NXT.L) , opens new tab shares surged 7.5% to a record high after raising its full-year profit guidance for the fourth time in eight months. The broader retail sector (.FTNMX404010) , opens new tab surged 3%. "Next is benefitting from a virtuous circle in its international business – strong sales are enabling more spending on digital marketing which in turn drives higher profitable sales, enabling a higher digital marketing budget, pushing sales further ahead," said Steve Clayton, head of equity funds at Hargreaves Lansdown. The focus will now shift to the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting. Traders are expecting a 25-basis-point interest rate cut and will parse comments from Chair Jerome Powell for guidance on future policy path. Among other stocks, Glencore (GLEN.L) , opens new tab gained 6.2% after the miner's third-quarter production report showed copper output surged 36% quarter-on-quarter. Gold miner Fresnillo (FRES.L) , opens new tab advanced 6.5%, as brokerage Peel Hunt raised its target price to 1,954 pence from 1,493 pence. Precious metal miners (.FTNMX551030) , opens new tab rose 4.5% and led sectoral gains, tracking a bounce in gold prices. GOL Meanwhile, Bank of England data showed lenders approved more mortgages in September than in any month so far in 2025, which could help counter recent signs of wariness in the housing market ahead of Finance Minister Rachel Reeves' budget next month. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/ftse-100-hits-record-high-strong-forecasts-gsk-next-2025-10-29/

2025-10-29 12:15

BEIJING, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Shares in China's solar companies jumped on Wednesday after an industry executive told state media that leading firms were forming an association, raising expectations that the industry would move forward with a plan to pare back overcapacity. "Seventeen companies have basically already signed. We are building an association," the chairman of polysilicon producer GCL Technology Holdings (3800.HK) , opens new tab, Zhu Gongshan, told CCTV on Tuesday night. "We are making an effort to complete it this year." Sign up here. Some market participants interpreted the comments as related to a proposal introduced by GCL in July that would see China's largest producers of polysilicon, a building block for solar cells, create a fund to acquire and shut down a portion of the sector's bloated capacity. GCL said at the time that the acquisition fund would launch in the third quarter. Polysilicon producer Tongwei (600438.SS) , opens new tab closed up 10% on Wednesday and top solar equipment manufacturers Trina Solar (688599.SS) , opens new tab and Longi Green Energy (601012.SS) , opens new tab rose 11% and 10%, respectively. The Hong Kong exchange, where GCL is listed, was closed on Wednesday for a public holiday. The CCTV segment detailed the central government's repeated calls since July to address overcapacity and unsustainable competition in the solar sector, and reported that the industry is scaling back production. CCTV found that at Longi's Xian operations, nine of 15 production lines were closed for upgrades. And an employee at a Jiangsu polysilicon factory told CCTV the company was adhering to production limits set by the industry association. But global solar demand is also falling, Zhu said. It is expected to reach 480 gigawatts (GW) next year, down from 520 to 540 GW this year, he said, calling the drop a "new inflection point" for an industry that has seen demand grow for years. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/china-solar-shares-jump-after-state-media-report-overcapacity-2025-10-29/

2025-10-29 12:04

Solar cheaper than gas and coal, Tenaga CEO says 2030 power sector gas use to rise over 40% to 1,000 MMSCFD Local gas-based power 29% cheaper than LNG-fired power SINGAPORE, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Malaysia will focus on a mix of solar and gas-fired power generation as it shifts away from coal, the chief executive of state utility Tenaga Nasional (TNB) (TENA.KL) , opens new tab said on Wednesday, adding that the renewable source would help keep costs down. The Southeast Asian nation of over 35 million people has been cranking up its coal-fired power fleet to keep electricity costs low, but plans to boost the use of natural gas and solar - the former being more flexible but the latter cheaper. Sign up here. "The cost-per-unit for solar is actually much cheaper than gas and coal. The best position is that we have a good mix so that the affordability will be addressed," TNB CEO Megat Jalaluddin told Reuters in an interview. MALAYSIA MAY NEED LNG IMPORTS IN FUTURE Malaysia is expected to add 6-8 gigawatts of gas-fired capacity and more than double its renewable capacity of 9 GW as it looks to cut dependence on coal from 2029. Coal currently accounts for 43% of Malaysia's annual power output, while gas makes up about 37% and solar over 2%, data from energy think-tank Ember shows. The country is the fifth-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, but has said it could start importing the superchilled fuel this decade, amid rising power demand from data centres. Jalaluddin said he expected gas consumption by the power sector to rise to around 1,000 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) by 2030 from around 700 MMSCFD currently, forcing utilities to switch to pricier LNG imports to address incremental demand. Malaysia currently depends almost entirely on its relatively cheap local natural gas supply for power generation, and per-unit costs of LNG-fired power are about 29% more expensive than local gas-based electricity, he said. Separately, Malaysia is pushing data centre developers to invest outside the southern Johor state - home to two-thirds of its 4,000 megawatt data centre capacity, and new data centres with over 500 MW capacity are coming online in central Pahang state and Melaka next year, Jalaluddin said. "As owner and operator of the grid, we would like to see infrastructure built in a balanced manner throughout the country," he said. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/malaysia-bets-mix-solar-gas-it-shifts-away-coal-2025-10-29/

2025-10-29 11:32

Oct 28 (Reuters) - What matters in U.S. and global markets today By Mike Dolan , opens new tab, Editor-At-Large, Finance and Markets Sign up here. Bulled up by another wave of AI deal-making and earnings excitement and with interest rates about to fall again, Wall Street now faces two days of critical monetary policy, earnings and global trade events that will test week's optimism. Despite months of fretting about possible bubbles in the AI gold rush, the world's most valuable stock, AI chip giant Nvidia, is poised to top $5 trillion in market value for the first time at the market open on Wednesday - just three months after it crossed the $4 trillion mark. Microsoft and Apple are now above or flirting with $4 trillion market caps too. The top four U.S. megacaps now have a market value in excess of the entire European STOXX 600 index, which is just under $14 trillion. Nvidia shares jumped 5% on Tuesday and another 2.8% in premarket trade today after CEO Jensen Huang announced $500 billion in AI chip orders and plans to build seven supercomputers for the U.S. government. And with optimism rising this week around some trade war detente at Thursday's crucial summit between President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping in South Korea, Trump praised Nvidia's flagship Blackwell model as a "super-duper chip" and said he might speak to Xi about it following on-off curbs on tech exports this year. Meantime, Microsoft, Meta and Alphabet report earnings updates after Wednesday's market close and Apple and Amazon are out Thursday. Microsoft shares jumped 2% on Tuesday after it and OpenAI announced a restructuring that frees the ChatGPT maker to move away from nonprofit roots and go public - allowing it to finance CEO Sam Altman's ambitious plans to develop data centers and cutting-edge technology. With AI bullishness in overdrive, the potential downside of the technology was also in evidence this week - with sweeping job cuts announced by the likes of Amazon and UPS. With official economic data still absent due to the government shutdown, a preliminary estimate of an ADP National Employment Report showed the U.S. economy added an average of 14,250 jobs in the four weeks ending October 11. And it is softness in the labor market that's likely to keep the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates later on Wednesday, this time by another quarter point to below 4% for the first time in three years. Investors will also watch closely for an announcement on the end of its balance sheet rundown, so-called "quantitative tightening". Despite another heavy week of new debt sales, Treasury yields were subdued ahead of the decision - with the MOVE gauge of bond market volatility falling to its lowest in four years this week. The dollar was marginally firmer. And with AI driving the megacaps, Wall Street index futures were up again ahead of today's bell after hitting record closing highs on Tuesday. Elsewhere, the Bank of Canada is also expected to cut its interest rates today by a quarter point. Tomorrow's decisions from the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan are expected to leave policy unchanged there. In the thick of the European earnings season, Deutsche Bank rose 1% after its positive earnings - but UBS dropped 1% despite a forecast-beating 74% surge in net profit. In today's column, I discuss the latest collapse in U.S. Treasury bond volatility and how it flies in the face of crisis warnings throughout the year. Today's Market Minute Chart of the day Nvidia was set to make history on Wednesday by becoming the first company to notch $5 trillion market value, extending a powerful rally that has cemented its place at the center of the artificial intelligence boom. President Donald Trump said he will speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping about Nvidia's state-of-the-art Blackwell AI chip at their expected meeting on Thursday. Sales of the U.S. firm's high-end AI chips to China, which accounted for 13% of its revenue in the past financial year, have been a key sticking point in protracted trade talks between the world's two largest economies this year. Today's events to watch * U.S. Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee policy decision (2:00 PM EDT), with press conference from Fed Chair Jerome Powell (2:30 PM EDT) * Bank of Canada interest rate decision (9:45 AM EDT) * U.S. corporate earnings: Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet, eBay, MGM, Boeing, Caterpillar, Equinix, Ventas, Verizon, Kraft Heinz, Everest, Starbucks, CVS, Centene, Align, GE Healthcare, Tyler, Fiserv, Masco, Cognizant, AvalonBay, ADP, Otis, Chipotle, DaVita, Garmin, Rollins, Dayforce, ServiceNow, NiSource, KLA, Smurfit Westrock, American Water Works, American Electric Power, Phillips 66, IDEX, Fortive, TE, Verisk, Generac, CH Robinson, Extra Space, Public Storage, Essex Property, Entergy, UDR * U.S. Treasury sells 2-year floating rate notes * U.S. President Donald Trump visits South Korea Want to receive the Morning Bid in your inbox every weekday morning? Sign up for the newsletter here. You can find ROI on the Reuters website , opens new tab, and you can follow us on LinkedIn , opens new tab and X. , opens new tab Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles , opens new tab, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/global-markets-view-usa-2025-10-29/

2025-10-29 11:27

MOSCOW, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Newly imposed U.S. and EU sanctions targeting Russia and its oil giants Rosneft (ROSN.MM) , opens new tab and Lukoil (LKOH.MM) , opens new tab have yet to disrupt physical crude shipments from the country’s western ports, according to LSEG data and market sources. Despite weather-related constraints and sanction pressure, October exports from western ports of Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiisk are seen at about 2.33 million barrels per day (bpd), in line with Russia’s revised monthly programme, LSEG data shows and sources say. Sign up here. Russia's western oil exports are under pressure from new U.S. sanctions, sources say, as Urals oil loaded from the ports is purchased by India and Turkey which are expected to comply with the new restrictions imposed by the West. The U.S. set a November 21 deadline to wind down all dealings with Rosneft and Lukoil. Given the roughly four-week voyage from Baltic ports to Indian refineries, shipments loaded now may arrive to buyers after the cutoff date, raising logistical and financial risks. "Everything that is loaded in Primorsk now, will arrive in India after November 21," one of the sources said. He added that there may be issues with banks over payments for the barrels, noting that Russian oil sellers don't want to be paid in rupees. Indian refiners have yet to decide what to do about their Russian oil purchases. India’s Reliance Industries, a major Rosneft customer, said it is assessing the impact of the sanctions on its crude supply contracts. The sources expect Russian oil sales to be handed over to intermediaries and trading firms, which will increase costs for sellers but may shield buyers from sanctions-related risks. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russias-oil-exports-hold-steady-fresh-sanctions-yet-make-impact-2025-10-29/