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Bloomberg Oil prices gained for a second session, building on the biggest one-day gain in five months, amid glimmers of optimism among bulls that the Delta coronavirus variant’s hit to demand may be passing. Brent futures topped $70 a barrel, after falling below that level last week, when the market underwent its longest sell-off in years on concern about demand …

Bloomberg Thailand’s parliament approved the nation’s annual budget that seeks to ramp up spending on tackling the Covid-19 outbreak while slashing outlays for defense and education with the government revenue coming under pressure from a worsening growth outlook. The 3.1 trillion baht ($93 billion) spending plan for the fiscal year starting October 1 received the backing of 257 lawmakers. A …

Bloomberg Oil capped the week with the longest losing streak since 2019 as the dollar strengthened after the Federal Reserve signaled it will start tapering stimulus and the virus resurgence raises doubts about demand growth. West Texas Intermediate futures ended the session 2.2% lower, tumbling for a seventh day and extending the week’s decline to 8.9%. Other raw materials including …

ABU DHABI / WAM The Higher Committee of Human Fraternity (HCHF) is following the situation in Afghanistan with great concern and hoping that the key actors there will advance the aspirations of the Afghan people to live dignified and peaceful lives. The HCHF called for protecting human rights, guaranteeing public and individual freedoms, and, in particular, safeguarding the rights of …

BRUSSELS / WAM The EU will provide €41 million to help low and middle-income countries facing an unprecedented health, humanitarian and socio-economic crisis as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to persist, combined with the imbalance in the delivery of vaccines. To help countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and Asia tackle the consequences of the pandemic, the …

Bloomberg Global trade in goods might be close to plateauing — albeit at a record level — amid an outlook clouded by regional imbalances and coronavirus outbreaks that slow economic activity, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said. The Geneva-based trade body’s goods trade barometer rises to 110.4 in March, the highest in records going back to 2016, according to a …

Bloomberg Oil snapped a run of declines as a US industry report pointed to a drop in domestic crude stockpiles. West Texas Intermediate rises 0.5% after a four-day losing run that was the longest since March. The American Petroleum Institute reported that crude inventories fell 1.16 million barrels last week, including a draw at the key storage hub in Cushing, …

Bloomberg Oil fell for a fourth day, heading for the longest run of losses since March, on the threat to demand from the delta coronavirus variant. West Texas Intermediate futures declined 0.5% after losing almost 3% over the previous three sessions. US gasoline consumption fell for a third week, according to a survey by Descartes Labs, while data from China …

NEW DELHI / WAM India has launched a series of competitions to popularise Expo 2020 Dubai as its preparations gather steam for participation in the world exposition in just over six weeks. “The main purpose of these competitions is to amplify the core message of the Dubai World Expo: Connecting Minds, Creating the Future,” according to an overview of the …

Bloomberg Saudi Aramco is in advanced talks for an all-stock deal to acquire a stake in Reliance Industries Ltd’s oil refining and chemicals business, people with knowledge of the matter said. The Saudi Arabian firm is discussing the purchase of a roughly 20% stake in the Reliance unit for about $20 billion to $25 billion-worth of Aramco shares, the people …