2025-09-12 06:47

DENPASAR/JAKARTA, Indonesia, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Two people were still missing on Indonesia's resort island of Bali, officials said on Friday, as waters began receding after flooding killed at least 16 people this week, most of them swept away when rivers burst their banks. Torrential rains on Tuesday and Wednesday caused the fast-rising floods in Denpasar and six of Bali's eight regions, blocking major roads and access to the island's international airport. There were also landslides in some areas. Sign up here. Rapid development on the island did not take into account the need for sufficient drainage infrastructure, said I Nyoman Gede Maha Putra, an architecture and planning expert at the Warmadewa University in Denpasar. "The city planning does not consider disasters," he told Reuters. "All of the infrastructure construction is geared toward making Bali more attractive to tourists and investors." I Wayan Koster, Bali’s governor, was quoted by local media as saying, however, that conversion of land use was not to blame for this week’s flooding in Denpasar. The regional development planning body for the Bali government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tourism is Bali's main source of income, and last year, there were more than 6.3 million international tourist arrivals on the island, data from the country's Statistics Bureau shows, exceeding tourist arrivals from 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic ground tourism to a halt. Bali accounted for more than 40% of Indonesia's total tourist arrivals last year. The search for the two missing people was still ongoing on Friday, said I Nyoman Sidakarya, the head of Bali's search and rescue body. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/land-use-biodiversity/waters-recede-bali-after-floods-kill-16-people-with-two-still-missing-2025-09-12/

2025-09-12 06:30

US CPI increases 0.4% in August Initial jobless claims jump to 263,000 last week Gold has gained 1.9% so far this week Silver, platinum, palladium set for weekly gain Sept 12 (Reuters) - Gold prices rose on Friday and were set for a fourth consecutive weekly gain, as mounting concerns over a weakening U.S. labour market eclipsed inflation worries ahead of a widely expected Federal Reserve rate cut next week. Spot gold was up 0.5% at $3,651.92 per ounce, as of 0609 GMT. The contract hovered near a record high of $3,673.95 touched on Tuesday. Bullion has gained 1.8% so far this week. Sign up here. U.S. gold futures for December delivery were up 0.5% at $3,690.30. "Now the market is looking for a high chance of at least three interest rate cuts before 2025 ends, which is much more than earlier projections from two months ago," OANDA senior market analyst Kelvin Wong said, adding that this is helping gold at the moment. U.S. consumer prices rose 0.4% in August, the steepest monthly rise in seven months, while data on Wednesday showed an unexpected decline in U.S. producer prices in August. Weekly jobless claims surged last week, underscoring a material softening in labour market conditions. This followed the U.S. employment report last Friday, which signalled job growth nearly stalled in August. The Fed is widely anticipated to lower its key interest rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday, with a slim possibility of a 50-basis-point reduction, according to CME Fedwatch tool , opens new tab. Non-yielding bullion, often considered a hedge against inflation and economic uncertainties, tends to perform well in a low-interest-rate environment. "It's not far off from $3,700 ... so that could happen at any moment. In the short term, we see some resistance at about $3,900 according to our technical analysis, but long term, we feel that it is probably still heavily under-owned by most institutions," said Ryan McIntyre, managing partner at Sprott Inc. The yellow metal has risen about 39% so far this year, driven by a soft dollar, strong central bank buying, dovish monetary policy and heightened global uncertainty. Elsewhere, spot silver rose 1.2% to $42.07 per ounce, platinum was up 1.1% at $1,393.71 and palladium gained 1% to $1,200.31. All three metals were set for a weekly rise. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/gold-set-fourth-weekly-gain-soft-us-data-fed-rate-outlook-2025-09-12/

2025-09-12 06:24

TOKYO, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Japan lowered its price cap on Russian crude oil to $47.60 per barrel from $60, effective on Friday, to punish Moscow for its continued war in Ukraine, although the move is largely symbolic as nearly all Japan's current Russian crude imports are exempt. The measure follows the European Union's action in July to lower its price cap on Russian crude to $47.60 as part of its 18th sanctions package against Moscow. Sign up here. Tokyo has agreed with other G7 countries to phase out Russian oil imports in response to Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. However, Japan continues to buy Sakhalin Blend crude, a byproduct of liquefied natural gas production at the Sakhalin-2 project, which is vital to Japan's energy security as it accounts for about 9% of its LNG imports. Transactions related to the Sakhalin project are exempt from the price cap rule, an official at the industry ministry said, adding that the reduced oil price cap is expected to have no actual impact on Japan's crude procurement. Japan bought 95,299 kilolitres, or 599,413 barrels, of crude from Russia between January and July, accounting for just 0.1% of its total imports, finance ministry trade data showed. Japan will also impose additional asset freeze and export control sanctions on entities in Russia and other countries to join the international effort to achieve peace in Ukraine, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a regular briefing. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/japan-cuts-price-cap-russian-oil-4760-additional-sanction-2025-09-12/

2025-09-12 06:16

Latest handover cements Agrinas status as largest palm oil firm It now has production potential of 5.7 million tons CPO Aims to build dozens of new mills JAKARTA, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Indonesia handed over 674,178 hectares (1.7 million acres) of palm oil plantations to state firm Agrinas Palma Nusantara on Friday, taking to 1.5 million hectares (3.7 million acres) the total area of land given to the company. The handover solidifies Agrinas' status as the world's largest palm oil company by land size. A government task force said Agrinas now has the potential to produce 5.7 million metric tons of crude palm oil annually. Sign up here. The company aims to start expanding its palm oil processing capacity to augment output that now falls short of that potential, however, Director Zulham Syakwan Koto told reporters, without giving details. "We currently have 17 mills," Zulham said. "However, with such a large area, we plan to have dozens more in the future. More will be added next year." The output will be used for the government's cheap cooking oil programme in the short term and for bioenergy in the longer term, he added. Some areas handed over to Agrinas are in damaged condition and it is working to return them to normal, he said. Indonesia has cracked down on the illegal use of forest, targeting plantations and mining areas, with the government also announcing on Friday the seizure of parts of two mining areas. Another 1.8 million hectares seized from illegal operators by a government task force are also being verified prior to their handover to Agrinas later, said Febrie Adriansyah, a senior prosecutor with the office of the attorney general. The companies whose land has been seized will also face fines that authorities will soon start calculating and collecting, Febrie added. "These fines are basically for the illegal gains amassed while the state lands were used illegally. So the profit must be returned," said Febrie, a member of the task force, adding that the government would keep control of the land after the penalties. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/indonesias-agrinas-adds-sprawling-palm-areas-plans-dozens-more-mills-2025-09-12/

2025-09-12 05:48

Asian stock markets : Nikkei, KOSPI hit fresh records, tracking Wall St Markets lean toward three Fed rate cuts by year end Bond yields down for the week, dollar flatlines SYDNEY, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Asian share markets followed Wall Street higher on Friday as expectations for rapid-fire U.S. rate cuts promised to lower borrowing costs globally, a relief to stressed bond markets and a drag on the dollar. The joy spread to European shares with the EUROSTOXX 50 futures , FTSE futures and DAX futures all up 0.2%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures were flat, having hit new peaks overnight. Sign up here. Indexes in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan were all at or near record peaks, while Chinese stocks hit a 3-1/2 year high, spurred by extravagant expectations for AI-related earnings growth. The U.S. consumer price report had been the last major hurdle to the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates next week, and it proved unthreatening, if a little firm. Indeed, costs in the CPI that feed into the Fed's preferred measure of core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) were on the soft side, leading analysts at Citi to predict a steady reading of 2.9% for August. "It's an encouraging reading for Fed officials preparing to engage in a series of rate cuts," said Veronica Clark, an economist at Citi. "We continue to expect 125bp of rate cuts over the next five FOMC meetings, with growing risk that the Fed will continue cutting rates below 3%." Markets continue to imply a 100% chance of a quarter-point cut to 4.00%-4.25% next week, and ramped up the probability of two further easings this year to around 90%. The Treasury market has already eased in anticipation with 10-year yields down 20 basis points in the past two weeks, effectively a rate cut given mortgage rates are tied to yields in the United States. That drop helped soothe concerns in some other major bond markets, particularly in Europe, pressured by political uncertainty and expanding fiscal burdens. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei (.N225) , opens new tab climbed 1.0% to another all-time high, bringing gains this week to 4.1%. South Korea (.KS11) , opens new tab added 1.3%, taking its weekly rise to almost 6%. Chinese blue chips (.CSI300) , opens new tab held steady, having hit the highest since early 2022, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) , opens new tab jumped 1.2%. ECB IN A GOOD PLACE In currency markets, the dollar was back at 147.40 yen , having briefly been as high as 148.20 the previous session. Japanese and U.S. finance ministers on Friday released a statement reaffirming that neither country would target currency levels in their policies. The euro held at $1.1728 , having got a modest fillip on Thursday when the European Central Bank kept rates unchanged and signalled it was in a "good place" on policy. "This suggests the Governing Council is not inclined to ease in the absence of a large growth shock," said Greg Fuzesi, an economist at JPMorgan. "We have thus moved back our call for a final rate cut from October to December." "We recognise the ECB might be done with cuts, but still think downside growth risks and the inflation outlook justify an easing bias." After the meeting, ECB sources told Reuters the December meeting would be the most realistic time frame to debate whether another cut was needed to buffer the economy. Markets imply only a one-in-five chance of a December easing, and around a 60% probability the ECB is done for this cycle. In commodity markets, gold firmed 0.5% to $3,654 an ounce , just off the record top of 3,673.95 hit early in the week. Oil prices were under pressure after the International Energy Agency predicted an even larger record oil surplus next year as OPEC continues to pump more product. Brent dropped 0.6% to $65.91 a barrel, while U.S. crude eased 0.8% to $61.88 per barrel. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/global-markets-wrapup-2pix-2025-09-12/

2025-09-12 05:37

Cracks appearing in labour market give green light to US central bank Euro awaits Fitch verdict on French finances SINGAPORE, Sept 12 (Reuters) - The dollar regained some strength but remained under pressure on Friday as a surge in U.S. jobless claims and a modest tick up in inflation kept investors zeroed in on likely Federal Reserve interest rate cuts next week and beyond. The dollar index was last trading up 0.1% at 97.643, having snapped a two-day winning streak on Thursday and on track to record its second consecutive weekly decline. Sign up here. On Thursday, data showed the biggest weekly increase in the number of Americans filing new applications for jobless benefits in four years. That overshadowed U.S. consumer inflation data for August, which showed prices rising at the fastest pace in seven months but still modest and broadly in line with expectations. While the mixed data might add some wrinkles to the Fed's policy deliberations next week, investor focus is mostly centred on rate cut prospects for now. "We're quite betwixt and between, and the outlook is quite murky," said Tim Kelleher, head of institutional FX Sales at Commonwealth Bank in Auckland. "The market is at a crossroads." The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes edged up to 4.0338% compared with its U.S. close of 4.011%, after a decline in yields that came close to crossing the 4% mark for the first time since April. Pricing of Fed fund futures indicates that the market believes the Fed is certain to cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points (bps) on September 17 as labour market softness overshadows inflation risks. However, traders are reining in bets on a jumbo 50 bps rate cut next month, with pricing implying a shallower path of easing before the end of the year than anticipated earlier, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool. The euro stood at $1.1724 , weakening 0.1% so far in Asia as traders curbed their bets on another European Central Bank rate cut this cycle, now seeing another move as a coin toss, after the bank sounded sanguine about the economic outlook. Euro zone rate setters kept their key interest rate on hold at 2% for a second straight meeting, with ECB chief Christine Lagarde saying that the bank remains in a "good place" and said risks to the economy had become more balanced than before. Fitch Ratings is expected to give its verdict on French public finances after markets close on Friday after the confidence motion on September 8. "Fitch’s sovereign rating model is, if anything, likely to indicate a small improvement," analysts from Citi wrote in a research report. "Going explicitly against the direction of its model and ‘manually’ downgrading the rating would require the agency to come to the conclusion that the balance of power between stakeholders of public funds has tilted further away from financial creditors since the last rating decision in spring." The Australian dollar was last holding steady at $0.666 , trading near a 10-month high, while the kiwi slipped 0.1% to $0.5968 . "AUD has seen strong interest from the hedge fund community over the last few sessions, however trading is more reflective of a USD selling narrative," said Troy Fraser, head of FX Sales at Citi Australia and New Zealand. "The recent PPI data and weaker jobs data in the U.S. helped reassure markets that a September rate cut by the Fed is firmly in play." Against the yen, the dollar was trading 0.2% stronger at 147.50 yen after the U.S. and Japanese governments issued a joint statement on Friday, which reaffirmed that exchange rates should be "market determined" and that excess volatility and disorderly moves in exchange rates were undesirable. Sterling traded at $1.3557 , slipping 0.1%, while the offshore yuan was last at 7.1170 yuan per dollar , weakening 0.1%. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/dollar-back-foot-surging-jobless-claims-firm-up-fed-rate-cut-views-2025-09-12/