2024-09-05 07:42
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that China, India and Brazil could act as mediators in potential peace talks over Ukraine. Putin said a preliminary agreement reached between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in the first weeks of the war at talks in Istanbul, which was never implemented, could serve as the basis for talks. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/china-india-brazil-could-mediate-russia-ukraine-talks-russias-putin-says-2024-09-05/
2024-09-05 07:33
LONDON, Sept 5(Reuters) - The pound held steady on Thursday, heading for a modest weekly gain versus the dollar, ahead of U.S. employment data that could set the tone for currency markets for the weeks and months ahead. The euro , which hit a one-month low against the pound last week, headed for its firstly weekly rise since early August, up 0.1%. Sterling was last flat at $1.3154, up 0.2% this week and some distance from last week's two-year high at $1.3269. Against the euro, the pound was also steady at 84.26 pence. The Bank of England meets in two weeks to set monetary policy. Right now, the derivatives market shows traders see very little chance of a rate cut this month, but a quarter-point cut is fully priced in for November . The BoE was the first among major central banks to raise rates back in 2021, but is likely to be among the slowest to lower them, which has given the pound a lift this year. BoE economist Huw Pill, who voted against a rate cut in August, is scheduled to speak at an event in Brussels later on Thursday. "It is unclear whether he will go near monetary policy in his speech today, but if he does, any signs of greater confidence in the disinflation process could also hit the pound," ING strategist Chris Turner said. Turner said his team expected to see sterling trade in the low $1.30s against the dollar in the medium term. Sterling is typically more volatile than the likes of the euro and this week's ructions across the broader markets have hit the pound. But with U.S. monthly employment data due on Friday, analysts see overall activity in the currency market remaining on an even keel for the time being. Economists surveyed by Reuters expect to see a rise of 160,000 in the number of workers on U.S. nonfarm payrolls in August, up from July's 114,000 increase. Markets are currently pricing in around 100 basis points worth of rate cuts from the Federal Reserve over the remainder of this year. Friday's employment data could determine whether the Fed cuts by a quarter point next week, or by an outsized half point . Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/sterling-treads-water-dollar-braces-us-jobs-2024-09-05/
2024-09-05 07:14
BEIJING, Sept 5 (Reuters) - China will make an "objective" and "fair" final ruling on brandy imported from the European Union, the Chinese commerce ministry said on Thursday. Last week, China said it would not impose provisional tariffs on brandy imported from the EU despite finding it had been sold in China below market prices. China will conduct follow-up investigations including field verification checks, said a spokesperson at the Chinese ministry at a regular news conference. Previously, the ministry had said its probe was expected to end before Jan. 5, 2025, but could be extended "under special circumstances". Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/china-make-fair-final-ruling-eu-brandy-imports-2024-09-05/
2024-09-05 07:11
MUMBAI, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee declined to a lifetime low on Thursday pressured by dollar demand from importers for meeting their immediate and futures payments. The rupee dropped to a record low of 83.9850 to the U.S. dollar, inching past the previous worst level of 83.98. The losses on the rupee would have been much larger if it for not for intervention by the central bank, traders said. The rupee's drop to an all-time low came in the face of a dollar that was struggling on dovish Federal Reserve bets. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/indian-rupee-declines-all-time-low-heavy-dollar-demand-2024-09-05/
2024-09-05 06:49
PARIS, Sept 5 (Reuters) - French state-owned energy firm EDF said on Thursday its teams were making technical checks after the new Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor -- already plagued by 12 years of delays and setbacks -- automatically stopped one day after entering production. The Flamanville EPR reactor had on Monday received authorization from the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) to proceed with divergence operations - the first nuclear fission which allows electricity production to finally begin. EDF teams carried out these first divergence operations of the reactor on Sept. 3 but on the morning of Sept. 4 the reactor automatically stopped, said an EDF spokeswoman, confirming earlier media reports. Initial elements from the technical diagnosis suggest the incident "could be linked to an inappropriate configuration of the installation", she said, adding teams were making checks before relaunching divergence. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/frances-edf-making-checks-after-flamanville-3-reactor-automatically-stopped-2024-09-05/
2024-09-05 06:30
BENGALURU, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee will be confined to a narrow trading range against the U.S. dollar over the coming year as the Reserve Bank of India continues to intervene in the market to shield the currency from volatility, a Reuters poll of FX analysts showed. The dollar fell more than 2% against other major currencies in August, providing breathing space for some emerging market ones. The rupee slipped to an all-time low of 83.97 to the dollar but is down only around 1% so far this year. That relative stability has been primarily driven by a known pattern of the RBI intervening in FX markets. Its foreign exchange reserves (INFXR=ECI) , opens new tab hit a record high of $681.69 billion at the end of last month revealing the central bank has been buying dollars amid expectations for rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve. The Indian currency was expected to strengthen from Wednesday's rate of 83.96 to the dollar to 83.75 by the end of November and 83.60 in six months and remain there in a year, the Aug. 2-4 Reuters poll of 45 foreign exchange analysts found. "Even though the dollar has eased, the rupee has refused to strengthen in line. This is something we had expected in the sense the Reserve Bank of India remains very much present in the market," Dhiraj Nim, economist at ANZ, said. "The RBI has got the formula that has worked well for them ... they would continue with their two-sided intervention of buying and selling FX to keep the rupee in that narrow range and continue to test this 84 level where the RBI has sort of drawn a line in the sand." Analysts said the RBI's intervention was aimed at returning the partially convertible currency to its fair value as it was currently overvalued by at least 7%. The latest data from the central bank's monthly bulletin showed the rupee's trade-weighted real effective exchange rate was 107.33 in July, the most expensive relative to its trading peers since December 2017. "I think that (rupee overvaluation) will be addressed because at the end of the day, we need to make sure exports are competitive and that real effective exchange rate is what the RBI will be looking at," said Suman Chowdhury, chief economist at Acuite Ratings. Over 40% of respondents, 14 of 35, who had a longer-term view expected the rupee to hit a record low. (Other stories from the September Reuters foreign exchange poll) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/rbi-keep-rupee-narrow-trading-range-2024-09-05/
