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Rich countries' $300 billion deal looks for to end COP29 stalemate
The European Union, U.S. and other rich nations at the COP29 summit have actually accepted raise their deal to $300 billion each year by 2035 to help developing countries handle climate modification, sources told Reuters on Saturday, after a previous proposal was dismissed as insultingly low. The top had been because of end up on Friday but encountered overtime as arbitrators from almost 200 countries - who need to embrace the offer by agreement - tried to reach agreement on a. climate funding plan for the next years. The shift in position followed a $250 billion proposition for. a deal, drafted by Azerbaijan's COP29 presidency on Friday, was. panned by developing nations as insufficient. It was unclear if the wealthy countries' revised position. had been formally communicated to developing nations at COP29,. and whether it would be enough to win their assistance. Five sources with understanding of the closed-door discussions. said the EU had actually agreed it could accept the higher number. Two of. the sources said the United States, Australia and Britain were. also on board. A European Commission representative and an Australian. government spokesperson both decreased to discuss the. settlements. The U.S. delegation at COP29 and the UK energy. ministry did not instantly respond to ask for comment. PROMOTING $390 BILLION Marina Silva, Brazil's minister of the environment and. environment change, had actually stated on Friday that the Amazon rain forest. nation - which is set to host next year's COP30 climate summit -. was pushing for $390 billion by 2035. We can not leave Baku without a choice that measures up to. the challenge we are facing, she stated by means of a translator. We. need to reach $300 billion by 2030, then $390 billion by 2035 so. we can accomplish this objective. Sierra Leone's environment minister, Abdulai Jiwoh, declined. to discuss the $300 billion figure on Saturday, saying:. We're still dealing with the number with other parties. Delegates were awaiting a brand-new draft text of the deal on. climate finance on Saturday after negotiators worked through the. night to bridge broad gaps in their positions. The COP29 talks have laid bare the departments between wealthy. governments constrained by tight domestic budgets and establishing. nations reeling from the skyrocketing costs of storms, floods and. dry spells fuelled by environment modification. The new objective is planned to replace industrialized countries'. previous commitment to provide $100 billion in climate finance. for poorer nations per year by 2020. That objective was met two years. late, in 2022, and ends in 2025. OFFER ALSO NEEDED ON DETAILS Any deal would require contract on more than simply the. headline quantity. Arbitrators have actually been working throughout the two-week summit. to resolve other critical questions on the target, including who. is asked to contribute and just how much of the financing is on a grant. basis, instead of offered as loans. The roster of nations required to contribute - about two. lots industrialised nations, consisting of the U.S., European. nations and Canada - dates back to a list chose during U.N. climate talks in 1992. European federal governments have demanded others join them in. paying in, consisting of China, the world's second-biggest economy,. and oil-rich Gulf states. The recent election of Donald Trump as U.S. President, who. has called environment alter a hoax, has cast a cloud over the. talks in Baku. Mediators from other wealthy nations expect the. world's greatest economy will not pay into the environment financing. goal throughout Trump's approaching four-year term. A more comprehensive objective of raising $1.3 trillion in climate financing. each year by 2035 - which economists say matches the sum needed -. was included in the draft offer released on Friday, and would. include financing from all public and private sources. Poorer nations have actually warned that a weak finance deal at. COP29 would damage their capability to set more ambitious targets. to cut the greenhouse gas emissions causing environment modification. Sierra Leone's Abdulai informed Reuters the preliminary proposal for. a $250 billion target for 2035, from Friday, would not total up to. a genuine boost in support when representing inflation. We've invested 3 years negotiating these numbers. And with. the end of the three years we have actually got nothing, Abdulai stated,. including that the deal required more powerful language to make accessing. moneying much easier.
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Green activists in S. Korea demand tough action on plastic waste at UN talks
Numerous ecological campaigners marched on Saturday in the South Korean city of Busan to demand stronger international dedications to fight plastic waste at U.N. talks in the city next week. About a thousand individuals, including members of native groups, youths and informal waste collectors, took part in the rally, the organiser stated, with some bring banners saying Cut plastic production and Extreme plastic decrease now!. The activists marched around the Busan Exhibit and Convention Centre, where the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) will take place from Monday to go over a legally binding international contract on plastic contamination. Dispute is anticipated to concentrate on whether the deal ought to seek to slash production, while significant manufacturers such as Saudi Arabia and China have actually said in previous rounds that it ought to prioritise less contentious techniques, such as waste management. We are here with Greenpeace and our allies in the Break Free from Plastic motion to represent the millions of individuals worldwide that are demanding that world leaders address plastic contamination by minimizing the quantity of plastic that we produce in the very first place, said Graham Forbes, worldwide plastic project lead at Greenpeace. Individuals from various countries and of any ages participated in Saturday's rally and some used intricate, embellished hats made from disposed of plastic items. It looks like the Earth, and a living animal, due to the fact that I. wanted to state our living animals are being impacted by plastic. contamination, said Lee Kyoung-ah, 52, who was wearing a hat made. of deserted plastic buoy. Lee Min-sung, 26, said he also wanted to see modifications in. everyday customer routines. I hope the culture of utilizing 'reusables' ends up being a cool,. stylish movement, as that will minimize (waste) bit by bit,. said Lee, who brought his lunch from home in a glass container. I will pick up garbage more often, whenever I have time, and. discard less to save the Earth, said fourth-grader Kim. Seo-yul, who flew from her home in Jeju Island to sign up with the. march.
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A minimum of 18 dead in retaliatory sectarian attacks in Pakistan
At least 18 people were killed and 30 injured in more sectarian violence in northwestern Pakistan, officials said on Saturday, as tensions stayed high following attacks on transportation convoys that killed lots of civilians this week. The most recent killings in a tribal district started on Friday night, when armed guys assaulted a town in the district, said the chief secretary of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry. They set on fire fuel stations and harmed properties as part of vengeance, he informed Reuters by phone. He said he and top police authorities would be going to the location and engage tribal seniors on both sides to bring back order. The toll considering that Thursday is 58 dead. AFP reported on Saturday that 32 individuals were killed in the most current violence, mentioning an unnamed official. On Thursday unidentified shooters opened fire on guest cars, eliminating over 40 in the Kurrram district, where armed Shia and Sunni Muslims have engaged in tribal and sectarian rivalry for decades over a land conflict near the Afghanistan border. Most of the dead were Shiites, officials said, sparking retaliatory attacks by armed groups, with markets and schools remaining shut in a curfew-like situation. A cops official asking for anonymity informed Reuters that the death toll from the fresh violence might have been greater had homeowners of the town that was attacked not currently evacuated their homes in anticipation of more violence. He stated the homeowners of Bagan town, a primarily Sunni location, had already left their homes and shifted to safe locations in Lower Kurram.
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How huge fossil-fuel-producing countries export emissions abroad
Black dust coats streets and gathers on rooftops in the area adjoining a vast cement factory in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. Activists and regional citizens accuse the plant run by the Alexandria Portland Cement Business (APCC), a subsidiary of Greece's Titan Cement, of fouling the air by burning coal. Every night, we see particles falling from their chimneys. Under street lights, you can plainly see the dust drizzling down, stated Mostafa Mahmoud, a supermarket owner in the Wadi al-Qamar area. Reuters could not individually confirm the assertion. Titan Cement says the plant's emissions are within legal limits, and it prepares to minimize its use of coal in coming years. Like many cement makers in Egypt and across North Africa, the factory uses imported coal to fire its kilns. Lately, a growing number of the region's coal is coming from the United States, according to U.S. export data. Fossil fuel exports have been a hot subject at the United Countries climate conference in Baku this year, with activists and delegates from some climate-vulnerable countries arguing countries must be held liable for the contamination they send out overseas - typically to poor establishing nations - in the type of oil, gas and coal. Some are looking for to get the question of how to do this onto the program at future environment tops. A landmark arrangement reached in Paris in 2015 to combat environment modification needs countries to set targets and report on development reducing nationwide levels of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. But it does not impose such requirements for emissions generated from fossil fuels they drill, mine and ship somewhere else. That has actually permitted nations like the United States, Norway, Australia and others to state they are making development toward international climate goals while likewise producing and exporting fossil fuels at breakneck rate, said Bill Hare, co-founder of Environment Action Tracker, an independent clinical project that tracks government environment action. Most of these fossil-fuel-exporting countries can get to look good with their domestic environment action, he stated on the sidelines of the COP29 conference in Baku today. Their. exported emissions are someone else's problem. U.S. nonrenewable fuel source exports-- including coal, oil, gas and. refined fuels-- caused over 2 billion lots of carbon dioxide. equivalent emissions in other countries in 2022, according to a. computation carried out by Climate Action Tracker and confirmed. using data from the International Energy Company. That. is equivalent to about a 3rd of U.S. domestic emissions, the. information showed. A years-long drilling boom has made the U.S. the world's top. oil and gas producer, while robust demand has actually lifted its coal. exports for 4 years running, according to data from the U.S. Energy Details Administration (EIA). Asked how Washington squares its climate ambitions with its. nonrenewable fuel source production and exports, President Joe Biden's. environment advisor, Ali Zaidi, said strong energy output was needed. to keep customer prices low during a transition to cleaner. fuels. I do not believe there is social license for a decarbonisation. playbook that puts upward price pressure for retail customers in. the market, Zaidi informed Reuters. Inbound president Donald Trump, a climate modification sceptic,. has said he wishes to even more enhance the country's fossil fuel. production. For other manufacturers, greenhouse gas emissions from fossil. fuel exports in some cases exceed domestic emissions, Environment. Action Tracker said. That held true for Norway, Australia and Canada in 2022, the. newest year for which data is available for all countries. evaluated. Reuters got special access to the computations. Norway's Ministry of Climate and Environment said it is. approximately other nations to manage their own carbon footprints. Each nation is responsible for lowering its own. emissions, the ministry stated in a statement to Reuters. Authorities at the environment and climate ministries of. Canada and Australia did not comment. Addressing the top in Azerbaijan, host President Ilham. Aliyev implicated some Western politicians of double requirements for. lecturing his federal government about its oil and gas usage, saying,. They better look at themselves. CEMENT AND BRICKMAKERS A lot of U.S. gas exports now go to European countries looking for. to minimize reliance on Russia, while China has actually become one of. the leading purchasers of U.S. crude and coal, according to the EIA. figures. America's greatest development market for coal, however, is. North Africa. U.S. coal mines exported around 52.5 million short lots. globally in the very first half of 2024, up almost 7% from the exact same. period a year earlier, the information revealed. Much of the boost was driven by cement and brickmakers in. Egypt and Morocco, which together took in more than 5 million. short loads over the period, the EIA stated in a current report. These clients value the high heat content of U.S. thermal. coal, which makes their production operations more. efficient, the report stated. On the other hand, U.S. domestic coal usage has actually been sliding as cheap. gas and aids for renewables like solar and wind. drive coal-fired power plant closures, extending a more than. 15-year decrease in greenhouse gas emissions. Egypt's cement market has depended on imported coal for. nearly a years, because consistent natural gas scarcities forced. many factories to search for alternatives, stated Ahmed Shireen. Korayem, vice chairman and board member at the Arab Union for. Cement and Building Products, a regional industry body. The U.S. is Egypt's largest provider, accounting for 3.1. million of the 6.6 million metric lots of coal imported this. year, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group. Russia supplied most of the rest, 2.1 million metric lots. Its environment ministry referred questions to the foreign. ministry, which did not immediately comment. Activists argue that the Egyptian federal government's choice to. lift a longstanding ban on coal imports in 2015 to support an. market central to its financial development strategies is harmful to. the environment and health of communities like Wadi al-Qamar. Using information from the Alexandria plant's emissions-monitoring. system, researchers from Egypt's Al-Azhar University, Cairo. University and environment ministry simulated the dispersion of. polluting dust and poisonous gases in between 2014 and 2020. The study , published in the Journal of Environmental Health Science. and Engineering in 2022, concluded that the shift from using. gas to coal as the dominant fuel cause increased. emissions and concentrations of overall suspended particulates. ( TSP), nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. The concentrations. were mainly within legal limits, nevertheless. Egypt's greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. increased by more than a fifth in the years ended in 2022, hitting. 263 million metric lots of carbon dioxide, according to information. from the International Carbon Budget, a task led by Britain's Exeter. University. The majority of these emissions originated from gas and oil, which stay. Egypt's main energy sources. Coal accounted for 3.4% of the 2022. overall, 9 million metric heaps. The federal government devoted in 2021 to phase out making use of. coal and has actually asked companies that utilize it to introduce more. eco-friendly sources into their energy mix. But Heba Maatouk, a. representative for Egypt's environment ministry, stated there was. insufficient supply of alternatives, such as refuse-derived fuel. ( RDF) made from combustible garbage. If business can not get the RDF, they will not stop running. and will use coal to avoid losses, Maatouk told Reuters. LEGAL BATTLES Decarbonising the cement industry is a difficulty,. especially in poorer developing nations like Egypt, due to the fact that it. requires huge amounts of energy, and technologies to keep. emissions from the environment are pricey. In his COP29 address recently, Egyptian Prime Minister. Mostafa Madbouly said his nation's strategies to enhance eco-friendly. energy to 42% of its power mix by 2030 depend on foreign. assistance. Homeowners in the Wadi al-Qamar neighborhood have been. participated in a prolonged legal fight with the Alexandria cement. factory, APCC, submitting several claims, stated Hoda Nasrallah, a. legal representative for the Egyptian Effort for Personal Rights (EIPR). In 2016, community members backed by EIPR asked an. administrative court in Alexandria to overturn amendments to the. country's ecological policies that allow heavy markets. to use coal on health and ecological premises, according to. the rights group. APCC officials did not react to an ask for remark made. through a legal representative. Titan Cement verified that the factory sources coal from. the U.S. however did not elaborate. In a statement issued by its group business interactions. director, Lydia Yannakopoulou, the company said the plant had. not violated any laws, had actually made 40 million euros in investments. in pollution controls because 2010, and prepared to reduce its use. of coal in coming years as it increases use of alternatives. She stated a court-appointed committee of experts from. Alexandria University concluded there were no environmental. violations arising from the company's emissions or functional. procedures, and the emissions were within legal limitations. Nasrallah stated legal representatives representing the community. believe the committee was headed by a company employee and have. taken their case to Egypt's greatest administrative court in. Cairo. Neither side supplied a copy of the committee's report, and. Reuters could not separately confirm their assertions. A ruling in the case is expected in December. Meanwhile, frustration is building amongst nearby. locals like Hisham al-Akary, who says his family has lived in. Wadi al-Qamar for generations and can not afford to move. This factory shouldn't be here, he told Reuters. We. need to remain, and they must leave..
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Adani CFO says US charges connected to only one service contract
A U.S. bribery indictment of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani is connected to one agreement of Adani Green Energy that makes up some 10% of its business, and no other firms in the conglomerate are accused of wrongdoing, the group's CFO said on Saturday. On Wednesday, Gautam Adani, among the world's wealthiest men, and seven others were indicted for scams by U.S. prosecutors over their declared functions in a $265 million plan to bribe Indian authorities to secure powersupply offers. Adani has actually rejected all allegations calling them baseless. Group CFO Jugeshinder Singh sought to defend the accusations on Saturday saying none of Adani's 11 public companies are. based on indictment or are accused of any wrongdoing in the. stated legal filing. The claims in the U.S. indictment associates with one. agreement of Adani Green, which is roughly 10% of general. company of Adani Green, Singh said on X. The U.S. prosecutor charges are the greatest problem for. India's $143 billion Adani Group, which was in 2015 hit by. Hindenburg Research study's claims of improper use of overseas. tax sanctuaries, claims the company denied. The U.S. indictment has currently had a significant influence on. business. The group entity's shares have plunged, some international banks are. considering momentarily halting fresh credit to Adani and Kenya. has actually cancelled 2 deals with Adani worth over $2.5 billion. Adani, which has a number of other global projects, is likewise charged. with deceptive U.S. investors about Adani Green's compliance. with antibribery principles and laws. Singh said on Saturday, they became conscious of the specificity. of the U.S. charges only two days ago. We understood that something is afoot, he stated, adding the. company disclosed as much to investors in its $750 million 2024. bond offering, about $175 million of which was raised from. financial institutions in the United States. The U.S indictment, nevertheless, says the bond offering consisted of. incorrect and misleading assurance about, among other things, the. Indian Energy Company's (Adani Green's) 'corporate governance'. and promoted 'preserving transparency and compliance in every. element'.. The charges also put the spotlight on Sagar Adani, a director at. Adani Green and millennial scion of the business who kept track. of hundreds of countless dollars of supposed allurements to Indian. officials on his mobile phone. Singh stated the group would make a more comprehensive remark as soon as. it has legal approval as the matter is before the courts.
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Iberdrola Invests in Offshore Wind Coatings Start-Up
Iberdrola, through its start-up program Perseo, has invested in the start-up Revestimientos Técnicos Sostenibles (RTS) to promote its innovative solutions related to manufacturing insulation and anti-corrosion coatings, which have a direct use on offshore wind structures.The investment comes after the utility has spent more than three years collaborating with RTS in the development of solutions based on cork, hollow ceramic microspheres and aerogel, a technological breakthrough to protect wind structures and the transformation rooms of offshore substations.Iberdrola aims to include this material in the construction and maintenance of offshore wind farms, as it improves quality and brings with it significant savings, the company said.RTS is an Andalusian company founded in 2015, and is currently in the process of developing and approving products applicable to Iberdrola's offshore wind and Smart Clima businesses.The firm based in Utrera, Seville joins the Perseo portfolio, Iberdrola's start-up program, which has invested over $210 million (€200 million) in companies since its creation in 2008 that develop innovative technologies and business models, focusing on those that improve the sustainability of the energy industry through greater electrification and decarbonization of the economy.The program focuses on technological collaboration with start-ups and emerging companies around the world, as well as on launching new innovative businesses in the power industry.
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Russia's claim of emissions in annexed Ukraine regions draws demonstrations at COP29
Russia has included the areas it occupies in Ukraine in its recent greenhouse gas inventory report to the United Nations, drawing protests from Ukrainian authorities and activists at the COP29 environment top this week. The move by Moscow comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin eyes potential peace offer settlements with inbound U.S. President Donald Trump that could choose the fate of large swathes of territory. We see that Russia is utilizing global platforms to legalise their actions, to legalise their profession of our area, Ukraine's Deputy Environment Minister Olga Yukhymchuk told Reuters. She said Ukraine is in touch with officials from the United Nations Structure Convention on Environment Change (UNFCCC), the U.N.'s main environment body, to ask it to fix the disagreement. Officials representing the Russian foreign ministry and the UNFCCC did not respond to requests for comment sent on Thursday. At concern is Russia's National Inventory Report of greenhouse gas emissions for 2022, which Moscow sent to the UNFCCC on Nov. 8. In the submission, evaluated , Russia said it could just offer information for 85 out of 89 of its territories due. to the lack of standard data on land use for the areas. of the Donetsk Individuals's Republic, Luhansk People's Republic,. Zaporizhzhia and Kherson areas, annexed in September 2022. Russia had already consisted of emissions from Ukraine's Crimea. area, annexed in 2014, in its last couple of reporting submissions. to the UNFCCC. It likewise included Crimea's land development strategies. in a report to the U.N. Global Biodiverity Structure in 2020. Ukrainian Environment Minister Svitlana Grynchuk raised the. problem in a speech to delegates at the COP29 top earlier this. week, saying Russia's reporting on Ukraine territories. weakens the stability of global climate efforts. Yukhymchuk informed Reuters this issue is based on the risk of. double-counting of emissions over territories that together. exceed the size of Portugal and Azerbaijan. It will bring us to a point that we do not achieve any of. our goals if we do not have correct reporting under the Paris. Agreement, she stated. Nikki Reisch, director of the Center for International. Environmental Law's Climate & & Energy Program, stated the disagreement. shown how geopolitical turmoil was diverting the world's. attention from the work of battling worldwide warming. I think that suggests the times, stated Reisch on the. sidelines of the COP29 summit. We're living amidst widespread conflicts, which is. certainly contaminating these talks. Christina Voigt, a law professor at the University of Oslo,. stated Russia's reporting on Ukraine emissions broke Ukraine's. sovereignty and might be illegal. Declaring emissions is perhaps not illegal - but declaring. emissions as if they were from their own territory, while they. are in fact produced on another country's territory, is a. unilateral declaration in violation of the global legal. status of that area, Voigt stated. She stated Russia's claim of the annexed lands' emissions. could become much more troublesome if Moscow eventually claims. emissions decreases on these lands and provides them as offset. credits to carbon markets. This would certainly be an unlawful appropriation of a great. coming from the other state, she stated.
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Moody's upgrades Saudi Arabia's ranking on economic diversification efforts
Global credit ratings agency Moody's. upgraded Saudi Arabia's score to Aa3 from A1 on Friday,. mentioning the nation's efforts to diversify beyond its oil. economy. The world's leading oil exporter is investing billions of. dollars to attain its Vision 2030 plan, which focuses on. lowering its dependence on oil and costs more on infrastructure. to enhance markets like tourism, sports and production. Saudi Arabia is also working to bring in more outdoors. financial investment to ensure its ambitious strategies remain on track. Last month, the nation's financial investment minister sought to. assure financiers at a conference in Riyadh that Saudi remains. lucrative for investment in spite of a year marked by regional. conflict. With lower oil rates and production, the federal government's. earnings have reduced. As a result, the kingdom is rethinking. its spending, which means some Vision 2030 jobs will be. delayed or scaled back, while others would get more concern. Continued development will, over time, even more minimize Saudi. Arabia's direct exposure to oil market developments and long-term. carbon shift, Moody's said in a statement. The rating company likewise revised the nation's outlook to. steady from positive, pointing out uncertainty concerning worldwide. financial conditions and oil market advancements. In September, S&P revised Saudi Arabia's outlook to positive. from stable on the back of strong non-oil development outlook and. financial durability.
Tepid start to week for world stocks, but gold, bitcoin shine
Global stocks started the week on a lukewarm note on Monday, after strong gains recently, while increasing bets on Donald Trump winning the looming U.S. Governmental election assisted send bitcoin and gold to new peaks.
Heightened unpredictability over conflict in the Middle East added to the appeal of gold, which hit brand-new record highs around of $2,733 an ounce.
Europe's benchmark STOXX 600 was mainly flat ahead of results later in the day from German heavyweight SAP , which might set the tone for a busy earnings week on both sides of the Atlantic.
Profits will be really crucial in giving direction to stocks - whether present U.S. appraisals can be warranted, said Chris Scicluna, head of financial research study at Daiwa Capital Markets in London.
Wall Street futures pointed to a blended open after the S&P 500 notched a record closing high and rounded up its sixth straight week of gains on Friday.
Meanwhile, optimism over Beijing's multitude of stimulus procedures first announced late in September has turned into caution in recent days as investors look to further information of more fiscal assistance from policymakers.
Although China cut its benchmark lending rates on Monday, the move was anticipated. China's blue-chip index rose just 0.2% as investors awaited even more information on Chinese stimulus.
We may have to wait till late October or early November for concrete plans from the Standing Committee meeting of the National Individuals's Congress, said Chaoping Zhu, worldwide market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management in Shanghai.
U.S. ELECTION ENJOY
With two weeks to precede the Nov. 5 U.S. election, bets showing a Donald Trump triumph are on the increase.
The Republican prospect's tariff, tax and immigration policies are seen as inflationary, negative for bonds and positive for the dollar. Trump is anticipated to take a more beneficial position towards cryptocurrencies.
( It) appears now that Trump's ahead in the key battleground states, which recommends he's rather well put to regain the White House and I think the marketplaces began to factor that in last week with the stronger equities, greater yields, U.S. dollar undoubtedly doing very, extremely well and bitcoin on track for a 10%. gain over the past week, stated Tony Sycamore, a market expert. at IG.
Bitcoin struck its greatest since late July at $69,487. before pulling away a little. The world's biggest cryptocurrency. gotten 9.6% last week, and is up more than 8% for the month.
The dollar index, which determines the greenback's worth. against a basket of peers, was last up 0.16% at 103.61 - not far. more than two-month highs hit last week.
Sterling and the euro were down about 0.2% each versus the. dollar, while the U.S. currency traded 0.25% firmer at 149.91. yen.
In bond markets, the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield. increased 3.4 basis points to 4.10%, while the two-year. yield increased 2.5 bps to 3.98%.
Oil costs edged higher following a more than 7% drop last. week on stress over need in China and an easing of concerns. about prospective supply interruptions in the Middle East.
Brent crude futures were up 1% at $73.76 a barrel,. while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up. 1.17% to $70.74 a barrel.
(source: Reuters)