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India's gold imports in June fell to a two-year low due to record prices
India's gold exports fell by 40% in June compared to the same month last year, to their lowest level for more than two years. The price surge to record levels sapped demand. A government official who refused to be identified because he wasn't authorised to speak to the media said that imports to India fell to 21 tonnes, the lowest level since April 2023. The official stated that the value of gold imports dropped to $1.84 Billion in June, from $2.48 Billion a year earlier. India has imported an average of 52.4 tons per month in the last decade. The data from the Trade Ministry showed that India's gold imports in the first six months of 2025 fell by 30% compared to a year earlier, to 204.1 tonnes. This is the lowest level since the first six months of 2020 when COVID-19 led to a lockdown. Ashok Jain of Mumbai's gold wholesaler Chenaji Narsinghji said that the rapid rise in prices is discouraging jewellery buyers from purchasing. In June, domestic prices reached a record high of 101.078 rupees for 10 grams. The price of gold has risen by 27% this year, after rising by 21% last year. Jain stated that gold imports will remain low even in July as the demand remains tepid due to higher prices. The official from the government said that silver imports nearly doubled in June compared to the same month a year earlier, but they were still significantly less than the 544 tonnes imported in May. Silver has outperformed gold this year, and is now the preferred investment for Indians who have traditionally been obsessed with gold. (Reporting and editing by Ros Russell.)
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Zimbabwe plans to start construction of a new $270 million lithium plant in 2019.
Trevor Barnard, the CEO of Zimbabwe's Kuvimba Mining House, said that construction on a $270-million lithium concentration plant will begin in the third quarter this year at Sandawana Mine. The plant is expected to be completed in early 2027. The state-owned miner will partner with two Chinese metals titans to build a lithium concentrator capable of producing 600,000 tons per year. The two companies will construct and operate the plant in a minimum five-year period before returning it to Kuvimba. Barnard refused to identify the companies citing ongoing discussions. Barnard, a reporter, said: "We're still working on finalising a few agreements and making sure that our partner has all the industry conditions necessary for them to begin construction." He added, "We're looking to break ground in the third-quarter." Kuvimba has been hauling some lithium ore to Gwanda's processing plant, owned by Chinese nickel-and-steel giant Tsingshan Group. Barnard stated that the completion date of the Sandawana Lithium concentrator may coincide with the recovery of the price of battery metal. The lithium price has fallen nearly 90% in the last two years due to an oversupply largely driven by Chinese production. Miners have been forced to stop projects and reduce jobs. Analysts say that the production cuts in China and strong electric vehicle sales could push lithium demand over supply this year. Barnard stated that "our forecast is that the lithium price will recover in 2027 at the time we expect to have the concentrator plant in production". Zimbabwe, Africa's largest lithium producer, announced that it would ban exports of lithium concentrates by 2027 in order to encourage more local processing. The government anticipates that Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, and Sinomine will have finished facilities to further process in the country by then. Reporting by Chris Takudzwa Muronzi. (Editing by Nelson Banya, Mark Potter and Mark Potter.)
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Bulgaria secures Citi for the financing of nuclear expansion at Kozloduy
Bulgaria's energy ministry announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with U.S. Citibank to finance the construction nuclear power units for the Kozloduy NPP. This is the largest energy project the country has undertaken in many years. Zhecho Stankov, Energy Minister of Bulgaria, held final discussions in New York with the leadership of Citi to agree on financing for units 7 & 8 at Bulgaria's nuclear site which will use Westinghouse AP1000 technology. Stankov told Stephanie von Friedeburg of Citi Global Director Public Sector Banking that the agreement with Citi was an important step in ensuring the success of the government’s priority energy project and ensuring long-term energy stability. According to a statement from the Ministry, Citi is the exclusive coordinator and arranger for export credit and this deal represents their largest nuclear financing project throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Citi did not respond to our request for comment. Kozloduy, Bulgaria's sole nuclear power plant, dates back to 1970. Two 1,000 megawatt Soviet-made nuclear reactors are in operation. By 2007, four others had been closed. According to the expansion plan, unit 7 will be completed by 2033. Unit 8 will follow a little later. Hyundai Engineering & construction of South Korea received approval from the Bulgarian parliament in February for discussions to be advanced on the building of two nuclear reactors, with a combined power capacity 2,300 MW. (Reporting and editing by Barbara Lewis; Antonis Pothitos)
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Wall Street to open cautiously ahead of US inflation data
The European stock market was mixed on Wednesday, and Wall Street futures fell as traders were wary of signs that U.S. Tariffs could cause inflation. Wall Street fell on Tuesday night and U.S. Treasury rates rose as U.S. Consumer Price Data for June showed higher prices for certain goods. This led investors to reduce their expectations of U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. After President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he would soon send out letters informing smaller countries about their U.S. Tariff rates, the threat of additional tariffs weighed heavily on market sentiment. Trump announced on Saturday that he would impose a 30 percent tariff on imports coming from Mexico and Europe starting August 1. At 1003 GMT the MSCI World Equity Index was down by 0.1% for the day. It had been knocked from a record high in the previous session following the inflation data. The pan-European STOXX 600 fell 0.1%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.2%. The rate of inflation in Britain's consumer prices rose unexpectedly to its highest level in more than a year. After the data, the pound gained a little against the dollar. U.S. index futures indicated a lower opening for Wall Street. The traders will monitor the U.S. Producer Price Data, which is due on Wednesday to determine the extent of inflationary pressures. Vas Gkionakis is a senior economist and strategist with Aviva Investors. It is very likely, but it's best to wait to see when and how much. The Fed has kept interest rates at the same level as it awaited indications on the inflationary effect of tariffs that Chair Jerome Powell said he anticipated in the summer. Traders bet that the Fed is going to start reducing rates in September. Trump has attacked Powell for not reducing rates sooner. This has caused investor concerns about the central bank's ability to remain independent. The dollar index, which was at 98.547 on Wednesday and little changed from Tuesday, showed that the U.S. Dollar, after hitting multi-week highs on Tuesday, has cooled. The euro rose 0.2% to $1.1615. The benchmark yield on the German Bund was unchanged at 2.707%, while the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury fell from its previous high of 4.4753%. Investors also pay attention to earnings reports. Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America are among the banks that will report earnings on Wednesday. Brent crude futures were around $68.5 per barrel as investor caution over the economic impact of U.S. Tariffs was outweighed by signs of a stronger Chinese crude demand. Gold rose 0.5% to $3,338.75 per ounce.
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The Russian oil price has remained below the budget target for 2025
Calculations showed that the average Russian oil price in roubles remained below the federal budget target for 2025. This added pressure to a budget already facing a growing deficit. The weakness of the rouble is due to its strength, which has increased by around 45% in the past year as a result of a easing of geopolitical tensions. The dollar value of international oil prices has dropped by about 10%. Estimations show that the average price for Russia's oil mix, as calculated for taxation, was 4,701 Rubels per barrel during the first two weeks in July. This is about the same level as June, but 11.1% lower than the revised budget target. Last week, the finance ministry announced that the budget deficit had reached 3,69 trillion roubles (47.31 billion dollars), or 1,7% of the gross domestic product in the first six months of the year. This is the same amount as was expected for the entire year. In April, Russia increased the estimate of the budget deficit for 2025 to 1.7% from 0.5%. This was after it reduced the energy revenue forecasts by 24%. The state's spending on defence increased by a quarter to 6.3% in 2025, the highest level since the Cold War. This was due to the fact that the country is still fighting in Ukraine. Oil markets have been impacted by the economic uncertainty and the increased production of OPEC+ (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and its allies including Russia. The price of rouble oil is calculated using a Russian currency exchange rate of 78.39 to $1 during the first two weeks in July, and a barrel average of $59.97. The government has set a target price for oil in roubles of 5,281 per barrel, with a rate of 94.3% per $1. Meanwhile, the price in dollars is set at $56.
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Sandvik's Q2 profits are lower than expected and it says that tariffs have been mitigated
Sandvik, a Swedish manufacturer of metal-cutting equipment and mining equipment, reported on Wednesday a larger-than-expected decline in its core profit for the second quarter. However it said that tariffs had been fully offset. The operating profit before amortization and items affecting comparableness fell 8% compared to a year ago, reaching 5.63 billion crowns (577 million dollars), versus a median forecast of 5.86 in a LSEG survey of analysts. Items that affect comparability are mainly those previously announced You can also find out more about our restructuring services. Costs totaled a negative 643 millions crowns. The company reported that it had implemented actions like rerouting trade flow and implementing tariff surcharges during the quarter. In a recent statement, CEO Stefan Widing stated that "we will continue to take mitigation actions to limit any impact of new policies on trade if they ever become reality." The company has It would be able increase the production capacity at its U.S. plants. Last year, it accounted for more than 14% (or $140 million) of the group's revenue. Sandvik is one of the Nordic's first industrial giants to announce its second-quarter results. Its large customer base, and short lead time for orders, make it a reliable indicator. The organic value of orders received during the quarter increased 10% to 32.2 billion crowns. At 1000 GMT, shares of the company rose 1%. This brings their year-to date rise to 17%. $1 = 9.7499 Swedish Crowns (Reporting and editing by Stine Jacobsen, Anna Ringstrom).
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The Canadian oil sands became one of the lowest-cost plays in North America
The use of giant shovels, driverless vehicles and a robot that looks like a dog have helped Canada's Oil Sands companies, including Imperial Oil and Suncor, become some North America's low-cost oil producers. This has been achieved despite the fact that U.S. Shale costs rose due to the highest inflation rates in decades. Canada's oil sands sector is in a strong position as the global oil market enters a downward spiral due to economic uncertainty caused by U.S. Tariffs and OPEC+ pumping out more barrels. International oil majors such as BP, Chevron, and Total sold their oil sands interests after the 2014-15 oil price crash. The Canadian operations were viewed as one of their most expensive and, therefore, less profitable projects around the world. They allocated their capital towards cheaper oil production and preferred U.S. shales for their quicker drilling times and higher returns. According to industry insiders, and an analysis of recent U.S. company earnings and Canadian company earnings, since then, new technologies and cost-cutting initiatives have led to meaningful improvements in the industry's competiveness, making oil sands one of the cheapest producers. U.S. oil companies have responded to the drop in oil prices by reducing rigs and capital expenditures as well as laying off employees. However, Canadian oil sands companies, due to their position of strength, have not made any changes to production or investment plans. As part of an effort to boost the Canadian economy, some politicians have called for a new pipeline to transport crude oil from Alberta to Pacific coast. Cenovus CEO Jon McKenzie stated in an earlier interview that the lower crude oil prices have had little impact on Canada's oil sector. He said that the industry has grown more resilient over time. Two four-legged robots, each named Spot due to their canine-like appearance, prowl Imperial’s 45-year old Cold Lake facility in Alberta. They perform routine equipment inspections and maintainence such as heat exchanger optimizing and oil/water interface monitoring. Spots allow Imperial to save CDN$30 ($22) million a year and free up workers for other tasks. Exxon's Imperial and Suncor, a competitor of Imperial, have both switched to autonomous vehicles to transport ore from oil sands. Imperial said that the switch had increased oil production productivity at its Kearl oil-sands mine in Alberta by 20% since 2023. Suncor's Fort Hills operation, north of Fort McMurray in Alberta, operates a truck weighing 900 tonnes, which is, according to the company, the largest hydraulic mining shovel in the world. Suncor CEO Rich Kruger stated that the shovel’s larger bucket and stronger digging force result in faster ore loading, and less spillage. Oil sands companies have also improved equipment reliability and performance. Imperial, for instance, has cut costs associated with turnarounds - an industry term for costly maintenance periods that require temporary shutdown of production - by CDN$100m annually at Kearl since 2021. The company aims to increase the interval between turnarounds to 48 months. Suncor attributes efforts such as standardizing maintenance across mines, and improving site water management to get more output out of existing assets to its US$7 reduction per barrel in the West Texas Intermediate (WTI), break-even price by 2024. The company now expects to achieve this at $42.90. According to Bank of Montreal, Canada's five largest oil sands firms can achieve break-even and maintain dividends at WTI prices of between $43.10-$40.85. This means that oil sands companies have reduced their costs by about $10 per barrel over the past seven years. According to BMO, oil sands averaged $51.80/bbl from 2017 to 2019. A recent Dallas Federal Reserve study of more than 100 oil and gas firms in Texas, New Mexico, and Louisiana found, on the other hand, that shale producers require an average WTI oil price per barrel of $65 to drill profitably. In 2017-2019 the break-even price for U.S. oil shale producers was between $50 and $52 a barrel. High Start-up Costs but Long Lifespan The nature of the extraction is a major reason why the oil sands sector has become so competitive. In some places, the process of extracting the oily sands in Alberta is more like mining than oil drilling. Companies operate huge mines to remove huge quantities of sand, clay, and oil from the area where the oil is close to the surface. Steam is used to loosen deposits underground and then a drilling method is used when the oil deposit is deep. Oil sands mining has high initial costs, but can be operated for many decades at very low rates of production decline. Canadian Natural Resources had, by the year 2024, proved and probable reserves of 20.1 billion barrels equivalent oil in its portfolio. This gave its oil sands upgrading and mining assets a lifespan of 43 more years. The Horizon oil sands mining operation has been in production since 2009. Shale oil, on the other hand, has low startup costs. The oil production from these wells begins to decrease within a few months. After years of drilling, the top shale field has been exhausted. Drillers have moved onto secondary areas and are drilling more wells in order to get the same amount of output. This has pushed up prices. Canadian oil sands firms have also reduced their debt over the last five years. This has allowed them to redirect profits from improving balance sheets towards dividends and share buybacks. Bank of Montreal reports that oil sands companies Canadian Natural Resources (CNR), Suncor, Cenovus Imperial Oil, MEG Energy and Cenovus have a combined net debt of C$33.9billion, excluding any lease obligations, after they paid down almost C$22billion in debts between 2021-2024. Kevin Burkett, Portfolio Manager at Vancouver-based Burkett Asset Management, says that Canadian oil sands producers offer increasing returns for investors looking to profit from the energy sector. Burkett, whose portfolio includes Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus, said that Canada's oil-sands are "not geopolitically dangerous" and have "some very attractive characteristics in terms of productivity and cost."
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Copper prices fall as concerns about disruptions subside and inventories increase
Prices of copper fell on Wednesday, as concerns about supply disruptions eased and inventories increased amid uncertainty over the impact of U.S. Tariffs. The benchmark three-month price of copper at the London Metal Exchange fell 0.4% to $9,610 per metric tonne at 0945 GMT. This is down from a peak reached on July 2 that was just above $10,000. Nitesh Sha, commodity strategist at WisdomTree, said that there haven't been additional supply disruptions pushing prices higher on the different exchanges. One of the protest leaders said late Tuesday that the blockades had been lifted in Peru, which is the third largest copper producer in the world. The blockades had blocked a major transit route for copper for over two weeks. Rio Tinto reported a 9% increase in quarterly copper production on Wednesday and predicted full-year output at the upper end of their guidance range. The announcement of 50% tariffs on August 1 has led to a reduction in the flow of copper into the U.S. The inventory drain from Shanghai and the LME has almost stopped and plateaued. "You're beginning to see a building up in both locations," Shah said. LME Copper Stocks Data showed that the number of tons gained in the last two-and-a half weeks had risen by a third. U.S. Comex Copper Futures fell 0.9% to $5.53 a lb. This brings the premium of Comex over LME Copper to $2,579 a tonne. Investors also digested data Tuesday that showed China's economic growth slowed down less than expected during the second quarter. Shah stated that the GDP print was slightly above target and therefore, there is no need for any additional stimuli. This could potentially limit copper prices. The Shanghai Futures Exchange's most traded copper contract increased 0.1%, to 77.980 yuan (10,865.11) per ton. Other metals include LME aluminium, which fell by 0.4% to 2,571 per ton. Nickel also dropped 0.7% to 15,045; zinc shed 0.5% at $2,683.50; lead slipped 0.6% to 1,985.50; and tin declined 0.1% to 33,295.
Dollar soars as Fed rate cuts bets are lowered, causing Asia shares to struggle
The Asian stock market was under pressure Wednesday, while the dollar rose to its strongest level against the yen in early April. This is after U.S. Inflation suggested that tariffs were pushing up prices, dampening expectation for Federal Reserve policy ease.
The yield on U.S. Treasury bonds reached its highest level in over a month. This lifted the dollar, especially against the yen.
However, tech shares remained resilient following a 4% rally in artificial-intelligence darling Nvidia overnight.
Brent crude has remained at $69 per barrel.
The data released on Tuesday shows that U.S. consumer price rose by 0.3% in the month of June. This was in line with expectations, but it was also the biggest gain since January. Economists attribute the increase in prices of goods like coffee and home furnishings, to the Trump administration’s increasing import tariffs.
The Fed has kept interest rates at the same level as it waited to see if the tariffs would have an inflationary effect, which Jerome Powell said he anticipated in the summer.
Taylor Nugent is a senior economist with National Australia Bank. In a podcast, he said: "We know that Fed Chair Powell and a few colleagues are waiting for the tariff effects to be seen. This data has bolstered that view."
Nugent stated that the markets have seen "a pretty significant reduction in Fed expectations" regarding rate cuts.
The traders are currently pricing in a 43 basis point rate cut for the remainder of this year. There is a 56.5% chance of achieving a quarter-point reduction in September.
Investors will be closely monitoring the producer price data, due on Wednesday. They are looking for any signs that inflationary pressures may also be building in factories.
As of 0127 GMT, Australia's benchmark equity index and South Korea's KOSPI both lost about 0.6%. Blue chips in Mainland China fell 0.1%.
The Nikkei, Japan's technology and exporter-heavy index, was flat following a series of small gains and losses. Nvidia's success and the weakening yen were both supportive.
Taiwan's benchmark index rose 0.5%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.8%. Both added to the 1.6% rally on Tuesday.
U.S. S&P futures declined by 0.2% after a 0.4% drop in the cash index overnight.
Earnings season is another important factor for investors, aside from the Fed and President Donald Trump's tariffs.
JPMorgan Chase's and Citigroup's results were better than expected, but the market reaction was mixed. Wells Fargo lowered its net interest income forecast for 2025, despite exceeding expectations in the second quarter.
Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America are among the banks that will be reporting earnings on Wednesday.
The 10-year Treasury yields in the United States rose to a record high of 4.495% Wednesday, the highest level since June 11.
The dollar remained close to its multi-week high versus major peers. The dollar index was barely changed at 98.545, after reaching a high of 98.699 for the first since June 23.
The U.S. dollar was unchanged at 148.785 Japanese yen and had earlier risen to 149.04 yen for the first since April 3 in the wake of Trump's "Liberation Day tariff announcement".
The euro has risen 0.1% to $1.1612 in an attempt to recover from the three-week low reached on Tuesday of $1.1593.
Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency, added about 1% this week to $117 696. It stabilised after its 6% drop earlier in the week from its all-time high of $123,153.22 on Monday.
Gold increased by 0.3% to $3,332.
Brent crude futures dropped 5 cents, to $69.16 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures also fell 9 cents, to $66.69 per barrel. Both contracts closed more than $1 lower the previous session.
(source: Reuters)