London / AFP A plunge in the share price of Toshiba over a possible write-down and the bailout of one of Italy’s top banks were the biggest ripples in otherwise placid trading on Tuesday. “Markets are calm, as thin holiday volumes are in play,†said market analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya at London Capital Group. However a 12 percent meltdown in ...
Read More »Shale specter haunts OPEC as oil seen rallying into 2017
Bloomberg After pulling off the biggest oil-market deal in a decade, OPEC faces a new balancing act in 2017: boosting prices without igniting shale. The first shale boom spurred a global supply glut that started prices sliding in mid-2014, and was amplified that November by a pump-at-will OPEC strategy aimed at market dominance. During the ensuing rout, prices in ...
Read More »EGPC seeks 178k tonnes of gasoil for January
SINGAPORE / Reuters Egyptian General Petroleum Corp (EGPC) is seeking up to 178,000 tonnes of gasoil for delivery in January, a tender document showed on Tuesday. The state-owned company is seeking two cargoes of 30,000 to 33,000 tonnes each of 0.1 percent sulphur gasoil for delivery into Alexandria or El Dekheila ports over Jan 11 to 13 and Jan ...
Read More »Oil extends longest run of gains since August
Bloomberg Oil extended the longest winning streak in more than four months before OPEC and other producing nations start reducing output to stabilize the market. Futures advanced 0.5 percent in New York, climbing for a seventh session. Prices are set to recover next year as production cuts help to re-balance an oversupplied market, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih ...
Read More »Egypt’s 55,000 tonnes sugar purchase was non-tender deal
Bloomberg The purchase of 55,000 tonnes of sugar by Egypt’s state commodity buyer GASC on Monday was a direct, non-tender deal, traders said on Tuesday. GASC, the General Authority for Supply Commodities, said on Monday had bought the white sugar for delivery between Jan. 7 and Jan. 20. Dealers said on Tuesday the purchase was made in Egyptian pounds ...
Read More »Libya’s oil production reaches 622,000 bpd
Bloomberg Libya’s oil production stood at 622,000 barrels a day (bpd), up slightly from levels recorded before an armed faction agreed to lift a two-year blockade on major western pipelines on Dec. 14, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) said. Before the agreeement, Libya’s output stood at about 600,000 bpd, having doubled since September. The NOC said it could add ...
Read More »Toshiba sees heavy writedown in troubled US acquisition deal
Bloomberg Toshiba Corp. can’t get past its accounting problems. The Japanese company, which paid a record fine a year ago for its bookkeeping practices, warned that it may now have to take another charge of several billion dollars related to an acquisition made by US unit Westinghouse Electric. The company’s shares fell 12 percent to 392 yen at the ...
Read More »China industrial profits climb 14.5%, led by coal and metals
Bloomberg Profits at industrial firms in China accelerated in November, with raw material producers leading gains, as prices of products such as coal and metals continued to advance. Industrial profits rose 14.5 percent from a year earlier to 774.6 billion yuan ($111 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday. That compared with the 9.8 percent increase in ...
Read More »Single bidder for S Korean shipbuilder French unit
Bloomberg A South Korean court handling the bankruptcy case of STX Offshore and Shipbuilding Co., said Tuesday that only a single bidder had submitted a binding proposal to buy the shipyard’s profitable French unit. Italian shipbuilding giant Fincantieri SpA, Netherlands-based Damen Shipyards Group and French state-controlled naval shipbuilder DCNS had initially expressed interest in acquiring STX France, which specialises ...
Read More »Thailand varsity accepts rice for fees amid nation’s grain glut
Bloomberg A private university in Thailand has begun accepting rice in payment for tuition fees as the nation struggles under a grain glut that’s hurting farm incomes. Students enrolled at Rangsit University in Bangkok’s northern suburbs can pay all or part of next semester’s costs with rice, said Worachat Churdchomjan, a dean who helped set up the program. The ...
Read More »