Asia / Pacific

Sources and company executives claim that some Brazilian power companies are withdrawing from the energy trading market due to rising credit risk, increased price volatility, and shrinking sales from generators. CPFL &?CTG Brasil are two of the major generators controlled Chinese groups that have stopped "directional trading" in which firms took long or short positions on price fluctuations to profit. Local groups like Capitale, Urca, and Trinity have cut back or stopped trading operations. Brazil's billions-dollar power trading market?operates via bilateral agreements without a central counterparty to monitor leverage. This makes reputation important, especially for independent investors who do not...

The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), on Friday, approved the creation of a unit that will run a "proposed national coal exchange". India announced last year that it would establish a platform for buying and selling coal produced domestically, despite a surge in production. NSE is expected to hold at least 60% of the coal exchange, with the remainder being allocated to other shareholders. NSE stated that the platform "will facilitate electronic trading of coal using standardised contracts and facilitate physical deliveries and derivative products in future subject to regulatory approval." Exchange operator stated that the lack of an...

The Olympic flame arrived at Milan's gothic giant cathedral on Thursday, amid cheers and protests on the eve before the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina Winter Games. Nicoletta Mani, a 'leading 'ballet dancer from the nearby La Scala Theatre, carried the torch to a platform under the cathedral, where it was lit a brazier. The majority of people who packed the Piazza del Duomo, or Cathedral Square in the light rain cheered and took photos on their smartphones as the torch passed. The torch was brought to the square through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. In solidarity with Gazans, a...

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed that Abbas Araqchi, Iran's Foreign minister, has left?for Muscat in the Omani capital at the head of a diplomatic delegation for nuclear talks to be held with the U.S. on Friday. Officials from both sides confirmed that the U.S. has agreed to hold talks with Iran in Oman this Friday. However, they are still at odds over Washington's demand that Tehran's arsenal of missiles be included in negotiations and Iran's refusal to talk about anything but its nuclear program. Esmail Baghaei, the Iranian spokesperson, said on Thursday that Iran will engage in talks with...

The Italian tyremaker Pirelli has said that it opposes any spin-off of its 'cyber tyre' activities. This was in response to a proposal put forward by Sinochem, a Chinese shareholder, to settle a governance issue. Directors are against "any project or initiative that might lead to any form of compartmentalization, separation and/or segregation, even only partially, and of any nature," ?Pirelli said in a statement. It added that the board supported the position by a vote of 9-5, with five directors appointed in China voting against. Sinochem, a Beijing-controlled company, is the largest shareholder in Pirelli with a stake of...

India and the U.S. are expected to sign a "formal" trade agreement in March. After that, New Delhi will lower tariffs on U.S. products, said Trade Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday. This was the first official timeline of the adoption of the deal. Washington will then reduce the duty on Indian exports from 50% to 18% within a few days. Goyal stated that India will purchase about $500 billion worth of U.S. products over the next five years. This includes $70-80 billion of Boeing aircraft. In the deal announced Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reduced U.S. Tariffs on Indian Goods...

Alexei Zabotkin, First Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, said that the outlook for Russian exports in the first quarter of 2026 will be more difficult than it was last year. This will have a negative impact on the federal budget. A?source near the government said earlier that the Russian budget deficit would be nearly three times higher than the official target at the end of 2026 due to falling Indian purchases?of Russian oil, and the widening of trade discounts. "The situation for our exports continues be challenging." Zabotkin, a RBC radio host, said that the situation is likely to...

The Kremlin stated on Wednesday that they saw nothing new in India's announcement to diversify their oil supplies, as New Delhi has always purchased oil from other countries including Russia. Piyush Goyal, the Trade Minister of India, said on Wednesday that India will diversify its energy sources to ensure its citizens' security in an ever-changing global environment. Goyal made his statement after Donald Trump, the U.S. president announced on Monday a U.S. India trade agreement. Trump said that New Delhi would halt its Russian oil purchases. India hasn't confirmed this publicly since. Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, said that everyone...

Investors say that the U.S. India trade deal will likely be enough to stop foreign stock selling. However, they insist that earnings growth and fundamentals must improve before sustained?buying can occur. The long-awaited agreement sparked an increase in the stock markets and rupee's strongest rally in seven year on?Tuesday as it?signalled improved diplomatic and trade relationships with the U.S. This was only one of many factors that hung over the currency and stock market, which has underperformed by a large margin regional and global counterparts since the start of last year, and seen the foreign allocations shrink to a 2-decade-low....

A survey released on Wednesday showed that the non-oil sector of the United Arab Emirates experienced its fastest growth in business in nearly two years, in January. This was due to a'sharp increase in new orders. The S&P Global UAE Purchasing Managers' Index, which is adjusted for season, rose from 54.2 to 54.9 in the month of January. This was the highest reading in 11 months. A reading of more than 50 indicates an increase in activity. Below 50, it is a contraction. The sharp acceleration of new orders in January, from 57.2 in December to 60.0 in January, was...

U.S. Military said that on Tuesday, they shot down an Iranian drone which "aggressively approached" the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carriers in the Arabian Sea. This was first reported by the U.S. U.S. President Donald Trump said that if the nuclear talks between Iran & United States could not be arranged, then "bad things" might happen. The incident occurred as diplomats were trying to set up nuclear talks. After the news that the drone had been shot down, oil futures prices increased by more than $1 per barrel. The U.S. Military said that the Iranian Shahed-139 drone flew toward the carrier...

Two sources in the refining industry said that Indian refiners were not told by the government to stop purchasing Russian oil. They would require a period of wind-down to complete any purchases already in progress. The U.S. president?Donald? Trump announced on Monday a trade deal with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which included the halting of oil purchases by India from Russia. However, there were no details as to how or when these purchases would cease. Sources said that while India has slowed its Russian oil purchases refineries have already reserved cargoes for February loading and arrival in March. They...

The price of copper rose above $13,000 per ton, ending two days of declines. Investor sentiment also improved as prices became more affordable. Benchmark three-month Copper on the London Metal Exchange was trading 0.8% higher at $13,001 a ton by 1700 GMT. It had earlier fallen as much as 2.9%, to $12,528. Red metal reached a session high of $13,037.50, and was on track to end the week with a loss of 1.2%. It had fallen 10.5% since a record-high price of $14,527.50 set on January 29, 2010. Broker Marex stated in a report that a merchant bid on copper...

Tata Steel reported an unexpectedly higher third-quarter profit, as increased sales volumes offset the negative impact of low steel prices. The net profit for the quarter ended on December 31 jumped from 3.27 billion rupees to 26.89 billion rupees (US$296.66 million). According to LSEG data, analysts had on average expected a profit of 24,26 billion rupees. Analysts at Jefferies had predicted that Indian steel companies would report "stronger volume growth" in October-December, due to capacity expansions. Meanwhile, Systematix Institutional Equities stated that higher volumes will help Tata Steel offset price pressures. The company's domestic production volume for the third quarter...

Itochu, Japan's largest retailer, posted a record-breaking 4% increase in its nine-month net profits through December 31st, to 705.3 billion dollars. This was a result of strong consumer businesses, such as food, textiles and the convenience store chain. The trading house's food unit saw a 38% increase in profit to 82.5 billion Japanese yen, up from 60 billion last year. This was due to higher banana sales and production, as well as growth of the packaged foods division at Dole agriculture. Tsuyoshi Hachimura, Chief Financial Officer of the company, said at a press conference that "core profits in non-resources sectors...

Muyuan Foods shares closed slightly higher on Friday in Hong Kong, following the world's largest pig breeder. raised HK$10.7 Billion ($1.4 Billion) in a share sale This is the largest city-wide event so far in this year. The shares of the firm opened at HK$39 per share, matching their initial offer, and ended 3.9% higher, at HK$40.52, after trading between HK$38.98 and HK$41.72, with 40.59 millions shares worth HK$1.63billion changing hands. The benchmark Hang Seng Index ended 1.2% lower. This is the biggest share sale in Hong Kong in recent memory, surpassing Zijin Gold International $3.5 billion in September. Dickie...

The Singapore contract fell below $100 for the first time in November 2025. This is part of a broad commodities decline triggered by the fall of Wall Street tech stocks. The May contract for iron ore, the most traded on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange(DCE), ended daytime trade at 760.5 Yuan ($109.59) per metric ton. The contract ended the week 3.53% lower. As of 0722 GMT, the benchmark March iron ore traded on the Singapore Exchange had fallen 1.26% to $99.35 per ton. Iron?ore has fallen 4.28% this week and is set to have its 'fourth consecutive week of declines. After...

Australian Rio Tinto shareholders have welcomed the decision of the mining giant to end merger discussions with Glencore. They said that now it is up to the company's new strategy, which they had placed so much emphasis on. The proposed merger, first announced in January, was intended to create the largest mining company with a value of more than $200 billion. Rio announced on Thursday that the two companies were unable to reach a deal which would have provided shareholders with enough value. Rio's investors feared that the miner could overpay Glencore to make a deal. Sources said that Glencore...

Canada's Capstone Copper announced on Friday that its largest union at the Mantoverde copper and gold mine in?Chile approved a three-year contract. This ended a strike which began on January 2, and allowed production to resume normal. The Australian-listed shares of the miner fell by?3.9%, to A$15.430. This is their lowest level since January 23. The agreement brings an end to the labour strike which had reduced production in the?mine by about 55%. Capstone announced that it had?now negotiated new contracts for all four unions on the site. This allows the company to resume its full operations. Union No. Union...

The price of copper fell again on Thursday as rising stocks and a stronger dollar weighed down the prices. As of 1731 GMT, the benchmark three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was down 1% to $12,917.50 a metric ton. Copper fell by as much as 2 percent to $12,783 earlier this week. Industrial metals also joined the broader sell-off across all asset classes. Silver, for example, lost around 13% due to a stronger dollar and an easing of U.S. China trade tensions. Dollar-denominated commodities become more expensive to holders of currencies other than the dollar. LME copper stocks...

An explosion in India's northeastern Meghalaya state killed at least 16 people and trapped more, according to an official. This is the latest of many similar incidents that have occurred in the area in recent years. Manish Kumar, East Jaintia Hills District's deputy commissioner, said that the blast occurred at 10 am local time (0430 GMT). The mine is called a "rat-hole" because the tunnels are only big enough to allow workers to get through. In India's northeastern state, the use of rat-hole mines was once widespread. However, they were banned in 2014 due to the high number of deaths...

Iron ore futures fell on Thursday as inventories were high, indicating a steady production of blast furnaces. The most traded May iron ore contract at China's Dalian Commodity Exchange ended the daytime session down 1.73%, closing at 768.5 Yuan ($110.72), a metric tonne. This was?the fourth consecutive session of decline. As of 0707 GMT, the benchmark March iron ore on the Singapore Exchange had fallen by 1.71% to $100.75 per tonne. Data from the Shanghai Metals Market, released on Wednesday, showed that the blast furnace utilization rate increased slightly, and daily hot metal production increased by?21,000 tonnes week-on-week. Iron ore...

The prices of commodities such as crude oil, silver, and gold, all fell on Thursday after the leaders of China, the United States, and Iran spoke by phone. Investors reduced their positions due to a stronger dollar in which commodities are priced. Silver fell almost 15%, while gold, crude and copper dropped about 2%. Tony Sycamore is an analyst at broker IG. He said, "We have seen extreme volatility this week in precious metals, other commodities, and we are now experiencing some aftershocks." He added that "talks between Iran and United States seem to be on track again, which has...

Maas Group, an Australian company, announced on Thursday that it would be selling its building materials division up to A$1.70billion ($1.19billion) in order to pivot to artificial intelligence infrastructure. This caused its shares to drop by more than 26%. Maas Group is selling its Construction Materials (CM), a?unit, to Heidelberg Materials' local subsidiary, HMA. It will also invest A$100m in Nvidia AI infrastructure?firm Firmus Group, for a 1.7% share. The conglomerate was founded by former rugby player Wes Maas over 20 years ago. It is now selling an unit that generated approximately half of the A$219 millions in core operating...