2024-08-20 10:12

MUMBAI, Aug 20 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee ended stronger on Tuesday, lifted by likely inflows and a slump in the dollar index that helped Asian currencies across the board. The rupee closed at 83.7925 against the U.S. dollar, up nearly 0.1% from its close of 83.87 in the previous session. The currency rose to an intraday peak of 83.7650, its highest level since Aug. 5. Dollar sales from at least two large U.S.-based banks, likely on behalf of custodial clients, helped the currency gain, a foreign exchange trader at a mid-sized foreign bank said. The rupee benefited from "both fundamentals and flows" on Tuesday as the dollar index fell to its lowest level since January and crude oil prices also declined, the trader added. Brent crude oil futures were last quoted down 0.2% at $77.48 per barrel, amid easing supply concerns and as China's economic weakness weighed on the demand outlook. The rupee's regional peers were mostly higher, with the Indonesian rupiah up 0.7% and leading gains. "Asian currencies have continued to strengthen against the US dollar on the back of broad U.S. dollar weakness and risk-on sentiment," MUFG Bank said in a note. The rupee has found some relief this week after hovering close to record low levels for much of last week, pressed by outflows from local stocks and strong dollar demand from importers. Benchmark Indian equity indexes, the BSE Sensex (.BSESN) , opens new tab and Nifty 50 (.NSEI) , opens new tab, ended the day higher by about 0.5% each. The focus this week lies squarely on remarks from Federal Reserve policymakers, including Chair Jerome Powell who is slated to speak on Friday. The remarks, alongside the minutes of the Fed's July policy meeting due on Wednesday, will influence expectations of the extent and pace of rate cuts by the U.S. central bank. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/rupee-closes-higher-boosted-by-inflows-broadly-weaker-dollar-2024-08-20/

2024-08-20 10:05

NEW YORK, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Canada's expanded Trans Mountain (TMX) oil pipeline, which commenced commercial operations in May, so far has had little impact on crude costs at refineries on the U.S. West Coast, according to companies operating there. The expansion, which tripled pipeline capacity from Alberta to Canada's Pacific Coast to 890,000 barrels per day (bpd), increased the access to Canadian heavy crude oil to West Coast refiners and opened up a new route to Asia. U.S. West Coast refiners, which mainly import crude by ship, were expected to be among the main outlets for the Canadian barrels. In the first three months since TMX began operations, however, most of the TMX barrels have been exported to markets in Asia, said Brian Mandell, executive vice president of marketing and commercial for Phillips 66 (PSX.N) , opens new tab. “About two-thirds of the incremental TMX barrels have been going to Asia, which has been a bit of a surprise for us,” Mandell said during a call with investors last month. The Houston-based refiner said in April the access to lower-cost heavy barrels from Canada would help boost earnings in its refining operations on the West Coast, both in California and Washington. Independent refiners are grappling with weaker-than-expected fuel demand, which dampened margins in the second quarter. Phillips 66's realized margins fell to $10.01 per barrel from $15.32 a year earlier. Marathon Petroleum's (MPC.N) , opens new tab refining margins for the second quarter came in at $17.37 per barrel, compared with $22.10 per barrel a year ago. Valero Energy (VLO.N) , opens new tab said its refining margins were nearly 28% lower than last year. Given that shipping barrels to Asia is logistically more complicated and costly compared with the readily available U.S. market, many investors believed the majority of TMX crude would head to West Coast first, said Scotiabank analyst Paul Cheng said in an interview. "But it turned out that was not what happened," he added. The assumption was the fresh flow of crude oil would displace heavy oil imported to the West Coast from Latin America or the Middle East and allow refineries there to save on shipping costs, Cheng noted. Many analysts had forecast the differential on Western Canada Select (WCS) versus U.S. crude would gradually narrow due to the additional export capacity offered by TMX. But the spare pipeline capacity failed to boost Canadian crude prices in first three months. Marathon’s Los Angeles refinery, the largest on the West Coast with a capacity of 365,000 bpd, would be among the main destinations for TMX's heavy sour crude grades. Other facilities on West Coast, including Valero's Benicia refinery and Chevron's El Segundo refinery, also take TMX crude. The U.S. West Coast has around 2.5 million bpd of capacity, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). ANS UNDER PRESSURE Refiners could start seeing crude costs go down in the coming months as the incremental Canadian heavy barrels compete with Alaskan North Slope (ANS) and other crudes which are widely used by West Coast refiners, executives said. “What has changed that is significant and quite helpful to us is as these incremental Canadian barrels have come into the market, it has put pressure on the ANS barrels,” said Marathon's Chief Commercial Officer Rick Hessling. Average ANS prices fell to the range of $85 per barrel from around $90 in April, according to data from General Index. Lower ANS prices are anticipated to start cutting crude costs for West Coast refiners, said Gary Simmons, chief operating officer at Valero. ANS and other crudes will continue to be part of the West Coast refinery slate as refiners are still testing whether running Canadian heavy sour crude will create issues or inefficiencies in their refining systems down the line. "Over time as you test that grade, you will see what type of natural oils you need to use to blend (with Canadian heavy crude) so it gives you the best yield in your configuration," said Scotiabank's Cheng. "That process will take months." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-west-coast-refiners-still-waiting-tmx-margin-boost-2024-08-20/

2024-08-20 10:03

A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets by Alun John, EMEA breaking news correspondent, finance and markets. It's been quite a recovery for the S&P 500 stock index since early August's turmoil. The benchmark (.SPX) , opens new tab has risen for the past eight trading sessions, its longest streak of 2024, and is now just 1% off its mid-July record high. The excitement, of sorts, is whether it can rise for a ninth day in a row. If it does, that would be the longest such streak since 2004, on Deutsche Bank's calculations. That's a solid recovery and explains why the mood feels different from early August, when stocks were tumbling on U.S. growth worries and investors rushed to the safety of government bonds. A general reassessment that the economic situation isn't as bad as thought a few weeks ago is the main driver for the move, though it's also worth keeping an eye on geopolitical developments and what they mean for oil prices as an additional factor in the mix. Brent futures are at $76.82 a barrel at the time of writing, down 1% on the day, after a 2.5% fall Monday. Oil strategists are pointing to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's Monday remarks that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had accepted a "bridging proposal" presented by Washington to tackle disagreements blocking a ceasefire deal in Gaza. Blinken urged Hamas to do the same. Canada is a focus in terms of data to come, with its consumer price index due at 0830 ET. The Bank of Canada has already cut rates twice this year, in June and July, and its public worries about slowing growth have markets nearly fully pricing another cut in September, barring a surprise in Tuesday's data. Sweden meanwhile delivered its second rate cut of the year on Tuesday, with its central bank cutting by 25 basis points, a sign that global monetary easing is gathering pace. U.S. policy makers continue to flag a Federal Reserve rate cut in September, though have been steering investors away from a large 50 bps move. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari was the latest to give his thoughts. He said it was appropriate to discuss potentially cutting U.S. rates in September because of the rising possibility of a weakening labor market, the Wall Street Journal reported. Kashkari added that he did not see any reason to lower rates in increments of larger than a quarter percentage point. Fed chair Jerome Powell is up Friday at the big central bank symposium at Jackson Hole. Elsewhere, the Democratic National Convention remains in the spotlight with some focus on news that U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is proposing to increase the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21% if she wins a November election. Key developments that should provide more direction to U.S. markets later on Tuesday: * Canada July CPI * Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic speaks Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/global-markets-view-usa-2024-08-20/

2024-08-20 07:34

FTSE 100 down 0.2%, FTSE 250 up 0.1% Energy stocks lead declines as oil prices slip U.S. Fed Chair Powell's speech at Jackson Hole awaited Aug 20 (Reuters) - UK's FTSE 100 benchmark stock index edged lower on Tuesday, pulled down by energy and copper miners' shares, while optimism around a September interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve limited losses. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index (.FTSE) , opens new tab was down 0.2% by 0708 GMT, after it closed at its highest level since early August on Monday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 was up 0.1% by 0708 GMT. Energy shares (.FTNMX601010) , opens new tab were the biggest losers on the benchmark, declining 1% due to a drop in oil prices. Sector majors Shell (SHEL.L) , opens new tab and BP (BP.L) , opens new tab fell about 1%, each. Israel accepted a proposal to tackle disagreements blocking a ceasefire deal in Gaza, helping ease supply disruption concerns in the Middle East and pushing oil prices lower. Real estate (.FTNMX303010) , opens new tab and real estate investment trusts stocks (.FTNMX351020) , opens new tab were among the top losers, declining 0.2%, each, after gaining on Monday. Industrial metal miners (.FTNMX551020) , opens new tab inched 0.3% lower as copper prices fell on short-covering after a rally in the previous session. Antofagasta (ANTO.L) , opens new tab gained marginally after the Chilean miner posted a 5% increase in half-year profit. On the flip side, precious metal miners (.FTNMX551030) , opens new tab gained 0.5% as gold prices steadied near record highs. Investors' focus is now on Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the annual Jackson Hole economic symposium in Wyoming later this week. The policymaker is widely expected to acknowledge the case for a September interest rate cut, after recent comments from Fed officials and economic data cemented bets for an imminent trim. Purchasing managers index (PMI) numbers in the UK and U.S., alongside minutes of the Fed's last meeting are also on the market's radar in a relatively data-light week. Wood Group (WG.L) , opens new tab slipped 1%, even after the oilfield services and engineering firm posted an 8.5% jump in its first-half adjusted core earnings. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/copper-miners-energy-stocks-pull-ftse-100-lower-2024-08-20/

2024-08-20 07:30

Aug 20 (Reuters) - European shares were subdued on Tuesday as investors refrained from placing massive bets ahead of key data from the euro zone, while energy stocks were the biggest laggards following a drop in global oil prices. The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) , opens new tab held its ground at 514.87 points, as of 0710 GMT, after touching a three-week high in the previous session. The oil and gas sector (.SXEP) , opens new tab was the biggest loser in the benchmark index, dropping nearly 1%, as crude prices edged lower on easing geopolitical risks and weak demand from China. Technology stocks (.SX8P) , opens new tab gained 0.6%, led by a 1.3% jump in heavyweight ASML Holdings (ASML.AS) , opens new tab. On investor radar is euro zone's consumer price data that is scheduled to drop at 0900 GMT. German producer prices decreased 0.8% on the year in July, in line with forecasts. The German benchmark DAX (.GDAXI) , opens new tab ticked 0.2% higher. The Swedish benchmark (.OMXSPI) , opens new tab was flat ahead of its central bank rate decision at 0730 GMT. Among individual stock moves, Jyske Bank (JYSK.CO) , opens new tab gained 2.1% after the Danish bank reported its first-half results. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/european-shares-flat-traders-brace-key-euro-zone-data-2024-08-20/

2024-08-20 07:02

BENGALURU, Aug 20 (Reuters) - India's Hindustan Zinc (HZNC.NS) , opens new tab, on Tuesday, nearly doubled its dividend to 19 rupees per share, or 80.28 billion rupees ($958 million) in total. ($1 = 83.7875 Indian rupees) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/indias-hindustan-zinc-nearly-doubles-dividend-2024-08-20/