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January
Dollar clings to previous day's gains as focus turns to US data
Written by nuke
U.S. dollar banknote is seen in this picture illustration taken May 3, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo -
LONDON/SINGAPORE :The dollar stayed near a two-week high on Wednesday after jumping the previous day, its rally underpinned by elevated U.S. Treasury yields and a cautious turn that weighed on Wall Street.
Trading was relatively subdued, with Japanese markets shut for a holiday and investors waiting for important U.S. economic releases later in the day, including minutes from the Federal Reserve's December meeting.
The euro was last up 0.12 per cent against the dollar at $1.0954. It fell 0.95 per cent on Tuesday, its biggest daily drop since July.
That helped push the dollar index, which tracks the currency against six major peers, slightly lower to 102.18, although it held on to almost all of the previous day's gains of 0.86 per cent.
A surge in risk appetite at the end of last year, sparked by a drop in inflation and a dovish tilt in the Federal Reserve's December policy meeting, fuelled bets for U.S. rate cuts in 2024, toppling the greenback and sparking a rally in Treasuries and stocks. The dollar index hit a five-month low of 100.61 last week.
That buoyant mood failed to carry over into the New Year, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closing lower on their first trading session of 2024, dragged down by big tech names [.N]. Treasury yields jumped as prices fell, boosting the attractiveness of U.S. debt and propelling the dollar higher.
"I think that what happened in the latter half of December was just not justified," said Alvin Tan, head of Asia FX strategy at RBC Capital Markets.
"The markets got carried away with this view of imminent Fed cuts in the first quarter, that took the dollar off. So I do think that this reversal can carry on for a bit longer."
The greenback was last up 0.43 per cent against Japan's yen at 142.57 to the dollar, adding to the previous day's 0.82 per cent gain.
Investors will scrutinise the minutes from the Fed's December meeting, due at 1900 GMT (2 p.m. ET), for any hints about how many rate cuts the central bank will actually carry out this year.
Data on U.S. job openings for November and a survey-based gauge of the manufacturing sector could also move markets.
"As more people come back it will be more about the data," said RBC's Tan.
The New Zealand dollar, often used as a proxy for risk appetite, was last 0.11 per cent higher at $0.6259, having slid to a two-week low of $0.6246 earlier on Wednesday.
Sterling gained 0.21 per cent to $1.2646, having slid 0.87 per cent in the previous session, its sharpest daily fall in nearly three months.
Analysts said the risk-off mood was also in part driven by concerns over escalating geopolitical tensions, after Israel killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in a drone strike in Lebanon's capital Beirut on Tuesday.
"I suspect that markets (are) starting the year with finding it hard to completely ignore geopolitics," said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank//CNA-VOI
January
Oil prices hold steady amid economic concerns despite Red Sea worries
Written by nuke
Pump jacks of Wintershall DEA are pictured in Emlichheim near the northern German city of Meppen, Germany, Mar 9, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Fabian Bimmer) -
Voinews, Jakarta - Oil prices stabilised in early Asian trade on Wednesday (Jan 3) after sharp moves earlier in the week, as markets weighed concerns about the US economy and potential supply disruptions from ongoing tensions in the Red Sea.
Brent crude slipped 1 cent, or 0.01 per cent, to US$75.88 a barrel by 0300 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 4 cents, or 0.06 per cent, to US$70.42 a barrel.
Oil prices had climbed around US$2 earlier in the week following attacks on vessels in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels over the weekend and the reported arrival of an Iranian warship on Monday. A wider conflict could close crucial waterways for oil transportation and disrupt trade flows.
However, the market fell in the previous session as market optimism about early and aggressive US interest rate cuts ebbed ahead of the release of Federal Reserve minutes and jobs data.
"Energy markets were unable to escape the broader pressure seen on risk assets with equity markets also weaker. The weakness in oil comes despite a ratcheting up in tensions in the Middle East," said ING analysts in a client note.
Expectations of ample supply in the first half of 2024 have kept a lid on prices ahead of OPEC+ plans to hold a meeting of its Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) in early February. An exact date has not been decided, three sources from the alliance said.
"While the geopolitical situation is a concern for the oil market, a fairly comfortable oil balance over the first half of 2024 does help to ease some of these worries," said ING analysts.
"Given the scale of cuts we are already seeing, it will be increasingly difficult for the group to cut more if needed over the course of 2024," they said, pointing to the fact that recent cuts have been driven by voluntary reductions, rather than group-wide cuts.
Ahead of weekly US crude and product inventory reports, analysts polled by Reuters expected crude stockpiles fell last week, while distillate and gasoline stocks likely rose.
Data from the American Petroleum Institute industry group is due at 4.30pm local time (2130 GMT) on Wednesday, and data from the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the US Department of Energy, is due at 11am (1600 GMT) on Thursday, delayed by a day due to the New Year's holiday on Monday//CNA-VOI
January
Japan quake toll rises to 62 as weather hampers rescuers
Written by nuke
Firefighters inspect collapsed wooden houses in the city of Wajima on Japan's Noto Peninsula, the area hardest hit by the New Year's Day earthquake (Photo: AFP/Kazuhiro NOGI) -
Voinews, Jakarta, WAJIMA: Japanese rescuers scrambled to search for survivors on Wednesday (Jan 3) as authorities warned of landslides and heavy rain after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 62 people.
The 7.5-magnitude quake on Jan 1 that rattled Ishikawa prefecture on the main island of Honshu triggered tsunami waves more than a metre high, sparked a major fire and tore apart roads.
The Noto Peninsula of the prefecture was most severely hit, with several hundred buildings ravaged by fire and houses flattened in several towns, including Wajima and Suzu, as shown by before-and-after satellite images released on Wednesday.
The regional government announced on Wednesday that 62 people had been confirmed dead and more than 300 injured, 20 of them seriously.
The toll was expected to climb as rescuers battle aftershocks and poor weather to comb through rubble.
More than 31,800 people were in shelters, the government said.
"More than 40 hours have passed since the disaster. We have received a lot of information about people in need of rescue and there are people waiting for help," Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Wednesday after an emergency task force meeting.
The number of military personnel sent to the area on rescue missions has been doubled, with more rescue dogs also deployed, he added.
The operation was given extra urgency as the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued a heavy rain warning in the region, advising people to be on alert for landslides until Wednesday evening.
There were "almost no houses standing" in one town in the Suzu area, said municipal mayor Masuhiro Izumiya.
"About 90 per cent of the houses (in that town) are completely or almost completely destroyed ... The situation is really catastrophic," he said, according to broadcaster TBS//CNA-VOI
December
Saudi Asks the World to Cease Military Operations in Gaza
Written by Rama Shidqi P.
VOINews.id, Jakarta: Saudi Arabia calls on the international community to assume responsibility for immediately stopping Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip, rejecting collective punishment methods targeting civilians in the Gaza Strip, Palestine and attempting to evict its residents forcibly.
December
California approves rules for converting sewage waste to drinking water
Written by nuke
A landscaper drinks water in temperatures that have reached well above triple digits in Palm Springs, California, US, July 20, 2022. (File photo: Reuters/David Swanson) -
LOS ANGELES: California regulators on Tuesday (Dec 19) cleared the way for widespread use of advanced filtration and treatment facilities designed to convert sewage waste into pure drinking water that can be pumped directly into systems feeding millions of household taps.
Proven technologies capable of recycling wastewater for human consumption, a concept once derided by critics as "toilet to tap", have gained greater credence in recent years as water-conscious California faces worsening drought cycles from climate change.
More than a decade in the making, the regulations adopted by the State Water Resources Control Board represent a landmark in the quest to reclaim some of the hundreds of millions of gallons of waste discharge that flows out to sea unused each year, supporters say.
"Today heralds a new era of water reuse," Patricia Sinicropi, executive director of the recycling trade group WateReuse California, said in a statement.
A number of communities have for years been blending highly purified wastewater into aquifers and reservoirs before people can drink it, a practice known in the parlance of engineers and resource managers as "indirect potable reuse".
In the sprawling Orange County suburbs south of Los Angeles, home to Disneyland and upscale beach towns, much of the drinking supply for 2.5 million people comes from highly distilled waste that is used to recharge the groundwater basin and eventually is drawn back to the surface.
The 69-page document approved on Tuesday provides a legal and regulatory framework for "direct potable reuse", allowing the end-product of advanced purification to be fed straight into drinking water systems, without first making a stop in some kind of environmental buffer.
The foundation of the technology, used for more than a decade in Orange County, puts pre-treated waste discharge through intense microfiltration, reverse osmosis and disinfection by ultraviolet light and hydrogen peroxide.
The new regulations mandate an additional ozone disinfectant process and biological carbon filtration. Greater pathogen removal and stricter monitoring is also required.
Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the state board's drinking water division, said it would likely take at least five years before the first direct potable reuse plant is operating.
Los Angeles and San Diego also have plans to develop direct potable recycling, as does the Santa Clara Valley Water District in the San Francisco Bay area.
Texas is the only US state to have previously approved direct potable recycling, with two small-scale systems that went online in 2014 to serve towns stricken by a drought-caused water emergency. Colorado also has developed relatively limited guidelines for such projects.
The technology for purifying wastewater is similar to that used in desalination, the seemingly more palatable process of converting salt water to fresh//CNA-VOI
December
Paris 2024 has contingency plans for opening ceremony
Written by nuke
Members of the Paris police bomb squad intervene on the Champs Elysees avenue near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris as the bomb-disposal team gear up for heightened security operations for Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, France, December 4, 2023. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/File Photo -
PARIS: Paris 2024 organisers admitted that there were contingency plans for the Olympics opening ceremony on Thursday (Dec 21) after French President Emmanuel Macron revealed the event could be moved from the River Seine in case of a major security alert.
"Given we're professionals, there obviously is a Plan B, Plan C et cetera," Macron said on Wednesday when asked if heightened security across Europe over tensions in the Middle East could thwart plans to hold the ceremony as planned.
France raised its security threshold in October when a man with a knife killed a teacher in a school in northern France.
Earlier this month, however, the sports minister and Paris 2024 organisers ruled out a change of plans after a man armed with a knife and hammer killed a German tourist and left two people wounded near the Eiffel Tower.
"There is no single fallback plan, but rather a variety of adaptation measures - what we call in our jargon contingency plans - which are not intended to be public in any other way," Paris 2024 said in a statement to Reuters.
"We have contingency plans for all identified risk scenarios: heatwaves, cyber attacks, and the ceremony is no exception."
France expects up to 600,000 visitors when 160 boats are due to set off on Jul 26 from the Pont d'Austerlitz in central Paris for a 6km journey to the Pont d'Iena.
"The President referred to these adjustment variables by taking an extreme scenario: a series of attacks, for example, but above all he reaffirmed his confidence in the collective ability of those involved to organise the ceremony as announced, emphasising that the event would take place with the highest standards of security and support," the statement said//CNA-VOI
December
Polish president denounces Tusk's state media overhaul as 'anarchy'
Written by nuke
Police stand outside the television building as protesters and Law and Justice politicians gather inside the headquarters after the management of Polish public television, radio and news agency PAP have been dismissed by new culture minister in Warsaw, Poland, on Dec 20, 2023. (Photo: Dawid Zuchowicz/Agencja Wyborcza.pl via REUTERS) -
WARSAW: The new Polish government led by Donald Tusk is implementing reforms of state media that amount to "anarchy", the president said on Thursday, amid rising tensions between the head of state and a new pro-European Union administration.
The swearing-in of a government led former European Council President Tusk this month marked the beginning of a period of cohabitation with President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the previous nationalist administration. It has seen a turbulent first few days.
On Wednesday, the new government took a public news channel off the air and dismissed executives from state media in a move its said was designed to restore impartiality.
State media, and in particular news channel TVP Info, were accused of having become outlets for propaganda under the rule of the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party.
Duda told private broadcaster Radio Zet that the sudden way the changes had been implemented broke the constitution as they skipped the appropriate parliamentary procedures.
"These are completely illegal actions," he said. "This is anarchy."
Meanwhile Former Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski and his deputy from PiS were sentenced on Wednesday to two years in prison for abuse of power in previous posts. In 2015, weeks after PiS came to power, Duda issued them with a pardon.
"I told them that if they were put in prison, they would be the first political prisoners in Poland since 1989," Duda said, referring to the year when communist rule ended.
Responding to an appeal on Wednesday from Duda to respect the law when implementing media reforms, Tusk said the actions were aimed at "restoring legal order and common decency in public life".
The new government considers Duda himself to have been involved in multiple violations of the constitution during PiS's eight years in power//CNA-VOI
December
Court rules UEFA, FIFA breached EU Law over Super League
Written by nuke
FILE PHOTO: A metal figure of a football player with a ball is seen in front of the words "European Super League" and the UEFA logo in this illustration taken April 20, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo -
BRUSSELS: Soccer bodies UEFA and FIFA contravened EU law when they prevented the formation of the European Super League (ESL), the European Court of Justice said on Thursday (Dec 21).
The EU's top court ruled that FIFA and UEFA abused their dominant position by forbidding clubs outright to compete in a ESL, but added that the competition may still not be approved.
Sports development company A22, formed to assist in the creation of the ESL, had claimed UEFA and global soccer governing body FIFA held a monopoly position which was in breach of the EU's Competition and Free Movement Law.
"We have won the right to compete. The UEFA-monopoly is over. Football is free," said A22 CEO Bernd Reichart.
"Clubs are now free from the threat of sanction and free to determine their own futures," Reichard added in a statement//CNA-VOI
December
Japan's new industry minister pledges chip sector support
Written by nuke
FILE PHOTO: Japan’s incoming Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Ken Saito arrives at Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's official residence in Tokyo, Japan December 14, 2023. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo -
TOKYO : Japan's new industry minister on Wednesday pledged to continue supporting efforts to revitalise the country's chip manufacturing base, which have included subsidies for Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC and foundry venture Rapidus.
"The speed of policymaking and execution, which could be called the world's fastest, has led to concrete results beginning with the decision on the location for TSMC," industry minister Ken Saito told reporters.
"It is my job to continue and expand upon the sense of speed that former minister Nishimura has built up," Saito said, referring to his predecessor Yasutoshi Nishimura.
Japanese premier Fumio Kishida last week appointed Saito to lead the powerful Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) after purging his cabinet to contain the damage from a financial scandal.
The government's efforts to regain Japan's faded chip glory include financial support for Rapidus, which is led by chip industry veterans and aims to mass manufacture 2-nanometre logic chips.
TSMC, the world's leading contract chipmaker, views the Japanese government as easy to deal with and generous with subsidies and is considering further expansion in Japan beyond its first fab, Reuters has reported.
"Ongoing support for Rapidus will be necessary. Discussions with TSMC regarding next projects are also ongoing," Saito said.
"We will not blindly continue our support but strictly manage progress and the necessity of backing," he added//CNA-VOI
December
President Tharman congratulates Egypt’s Sisi on re-election
Written by nuke
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends a meeting at the Ittihadia presidential palace in Cairo on Nov 15, 2023. (File photo: AFP/Khaled Desouki) -
SINGAPORE: Singapore’s President Tharman Shanmugaratnam has written to Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to congratulate him on his re-election as president, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on Wednesday (Dec 20).
Mr Sisi took 89.6 per cent of the vote during Egypt’s Dec 10 to Dec 12 presidential election to win a third term in office.
“Please accept my congratulations on your re-election as president of the Arab Republic of Egypt,” Mr Tharman said in his letter.
“The strong mandate that you received is especially important in the midst of the conflicts in the region and the key role that Egypt plays in both coordinating humanitarian aid into Gaza and in the pursuit of peace.”
Mr Tharman noted that Singapore and Egypt enjoy a “warm and long-standing partnership” that is “underpinned by strong political, economic and people-to-people ties”.
He added that cooperation between the two countries continues to deepen and has expanded into areas like capacity building, civil aviation and tourism.
“I look forward to continuing to work with you to further enhance bilateral ties,” said Mr Tharman//CNA-VOI