North Asia

The Russian rouble, and its stocks, surged Thursday following a phone conversation between U.S. president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin. In the call the two leaders discussed how to end the Ukraine War. According to data on the over-the counter market, at 0745 GMT the rouble had risen 3% against the dollar and was trading at 90.90, its highest level since September 2024. During the trading session, the rouble briefly reached the highest level since September 11 at 89.90. The rouble has gained 20% against the dollar since the beginning of the year. The Moscow Exchange index (MOEX),...

The regional governor of Saratov, Russia, said that a Ukrainian drone attacked an "industrial facility" within the region. In a Telegram post, Roman Busargin (the governor of Saratov) said that preliminary information indicated there were no casualties. The Shot news telegram telegram channel was one of several unofficial Russian Telegram channels that reported fires and explosions near an oil refinery located in Saratov in Russia's South. Social media posts and videos showed thick smoke clouds in the night sky. We could not independently confirm the reports. Ukraine has not yet responded. Kyiv has said many times that its air strikes...

The governor of Krasnodar said that a drone attack from Ukraine overnight caused a fire to break out at an oil storage depot in the southern Russian region. 55 firefighters were battling the blaze. In recent days, a series of drone strikes by Ukraine against Russia's energy infrastructure has sparked fires at a major refinery in Volgograd and at the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant. Veniamin Kodratyev said, "The fire is contained and there are no injuries," on Telegram, as a team of 19 firefighters tried to extinguish flames. Kondratyev didn't specify which depot was burning or the extent of damage....

The oil prices fell on Wednesday, as market concerns about a Sino-U.S. new trade war and rising U.S. stockpiles offset President Donald Trump’s renewed push to end Iranian crude exports. Brent crude futures fell 39 cents or 0.51% to $75.81 per barrel at 0427 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI), a crude oil produced in the United States, lost 26 cents or 0.36% to $72.44. Oil traded across a range on Tuesday, with WTI dropping at one point to its lowest level since December 31, after China announced tariffs against U.S. imports for oil, natural gas liquefied and coal as...

These are the most popular stories from the Financial Times. These stories have not been verified and we cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports. Headlines EU opens the door to UK, Norway and a 'coalition' of willing defence forces Vitol: Oil demand will remain unchanged until at least 2040 EU will'respond strongly' if Trump imposes Tariffs - UK to unveil 100 mln pounds development finance drive View the full article The European Union (EU), governments are looking at ways to include Britain, Norway and other neutral capitals in a "coalition" that will expand the continent's defenses. According to...

The Moldovan opposition leader, Alexandr Stoianoglo who lost the presidential vote held in November, announced on Friday that he would lead a coalition consisting of three parties against the pro-Western majority ruling at the parliament elections this year. Last year, the former prosecutor general was closer than anyone expected to unseating pro Western President Maia Sandu. She lost in a runoff after campaigning on a balanced foreign policies that looked to Russia and West. He was backed by a pro-Moscow party. The election is expected to be a close one and could result in Sandu's pro Western PAS party losing...

The government has granted permission to Russia's biggest oil companies to continue gasoline sales until the end February. This extends a waiver that was due to expire this Friday. The Russian government lifted the temporary ban at the end of November on gasoline exported by the majority of producers. However, the restrictions were extended to other exporters, such as independent traders or re-sellers until January 31. These restrictions will continue to be in effect in February. The first ban on gasoline imports was implemented in March of last year in response to a steep rise in wholesale fuel costs and...

The leader of Moldova's. separatist Transdniestria area, gripped by power and heating. cuts, said on Friday that gas reserves would be exhausted within. days and prompted the central federal government to end synthetic delays. and offer new products. However Moldova's prime minister said the option could be. solved only if Russian gas manufacturer Gazprom resumed. shipments to Moldova, or if the pro-Russian separatist region. agreed to pay for gas secured on European markets. Transdniestria, which split from Moldova as the Soviet Union. was collapsing, had actually long gotten Russian gas passing through. Ukraine, however authorities in Kyiv, secured a nearly...

OPEC+ has yet to respond to a. call from U.S. President Donald Trump for lower oil prices, with. delegates from the group indicating a strategy currently in place to. begin raising oil output from April. Trump on Thursday revealed he would be asking Saudi Arabia and. the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to bring. down the expense of oil a call he frequently made in his very first term in. the White House. Speaking on a panel at the World Economic Online Forum in Davos on. Friday, Saudi Arabia's Economy Minister Faisal alIbrahim stated. Saudi Arabia and OPEC's position...

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday stated he will demand Saudi Arabia and OPEC lower the expense of oil and will ask Riyadh to increase a scheduled U.S. investment bundle to $1 trillion from an initial reported $600. billion. His remarks come one day after Trump and Saudi Arabian Crown. Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed what the White House called. the kingdom's global financial ambitions along with. trade concerns. Previously on Thursday, the Saudi State news agency stated. the kingdom wants to put $600 billion into expanded investment. and trade with the U.S. over the next 4 years. But I'll...

President Vladimir Putin has grown progressively worried about distortions in Russia's. wartime economy, simply as Donald Trump pushes for an end to the. Ukraine conflict, five sources with knowledge of the circumstance. told Reuters. Russia's economy, driven by exports of oil, gas and. minerals, grew robustly over the previous two years in spite of numerous. rounds of Western sanctions enforced after its invasion of. Ukraine in 2022. However domestic activity has actually ended up being strained in recent months. by labour lacks and high interest rates introduced to tackle. inflation, which has accelerated under record military costs. That has actually...

India's staterun refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp sees its Russian oil processing down to 20% in March from 31% this month as it awaits deals from traders, its head of finance Vetsa Ramakrishna Gupta told an analyst call on Thursday. The company and other state refiners such as Indian Oil Corp. , Hindustan Petroleum, and Mangalore Refinery. and Petrochemicals purchase Russian oil in the spot market. and the absence of clearness concerning its accessibility is requiring. them to look for alternatives. BPCL's Russian oil processing declined to 31% in December. quarter from about 35-40% in the previous month. The business,. together...

H.D. Steel Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said that India could implement a temporary import tax of 15-25% in six months due to the "serious threat" to local producers from low-cost imports. Kumaraswamy stated. In an interview given late Tuesday, Kumaraswamy said that "rising Chinese steel imports are a major challenge for Indian manufacturers." "The government remains resolute to protect the Indian steel industry", Kumaraswamy said. New Delhi started an investigation in December to determine whether it should impose a temporary duty known locally as a "safeguard duty" to reduce steel imports. It could be in place for up to two years...

According to a source who is familiar with Bessent's plans, U.S. Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent will visit Ukraine this week to talk about a possible deal involving rare earth minerals. Bessent is the first Cabinet-level official from President Donald Trump's Administration to visit Ukraine. Both Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy have expressed an interest in a deal that would allow the United States to access Ukraine's rare-earth resources in exchange of continued support for the Russian invasion. Source, who asked to remain anonymous as the plans are still classified, didn't provide any additional information on the itinerary. The White...

Nornickel of Russia, a major producer in the refined nickel and palladium industry, announced on Tuesday that it was in active discussions on a joint-venture in China, with potential investments being included in its early financial plans. The details of the discussions were not disclosed. In December, two sources familiar with the matter said that Nornickel was in talks with Chinese conglomerate Xiamen C&D to form a joint venture in China for processing Nornickel's raw copper material into metal. We are in active discussions with our Chinese partners and therefore cannot reveal the details just yet. We are including these...

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the President of Ukraine has He is willing to make a deal with U.S. president Donald Trump, which includes U.S. participation in the development of Ukraine's vast deposits of rare Earths and other vital minerals. Trump stated on February 3, that he wants Ukraine to provide the U.S. rare earths as a return for Kyiv financially supporting its war effort against Russia. Zelenskiy presented the idea to Kyiv’s allies including Trump in his "victory Plan" strategy last autumn. The plan includes, among other things: reaching agreements with partners abroad to allow joint access to Ukraine’s strategic valuable resources....

Severstal, the Russian steelmaker, announced on Monday that it will not be paying dividends in the fourth quarter 2024, after its net profit for last year fell by 22 percent. The company blamed high interest rates for the fall in metals consumption across Russia. According to our estimates, the total metal consumption on the Russian market in 2024 will have decreased by 5.7%, said Alexander Shevelev, CEO of Severstal. Shevelev noted that the construction industry was particularly affected. In 2024, the company's earnings (before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) fell by 9%, to 238 billion rubles ($2.39 billion). EBITDA dropped...

President Vladimir Putin has grown increasingly concerned about distortions in Russia's. wartime economy, simply as Donald Trump promotes an end to the. Ukraine conflict, five sources with understanding of the circumstance. told Reuters. Russia's economy, driven by exports of oil, gas and. minerals, grew robustly over the past 2 years in spite of numerous. rounds of Western sanctions imposed after its invasion of. Ukraine in 2022. However domestic activity has actually become strained in current months by. labour lacks and high rates of interest introduced to take on. inflation, which has accelerated under record military spending. That has actually added...

The European Commission intends to propose a ban on imports of Russian main aluminium in its 16th plan of sanctions against Russia over its intrusion of Ukraine, European Union diplomats stated on Tuesday. EU countries hope to pass a 16th bundle of constraints in February to mark the 3rd anniversary of the war. The Commission held casual conferences with EU countries on Tuesday to discuss information of the forthcoming plan, the sources stated. One source included that the restriction would be phased in. In a letter late last year, 10 EU nations proposed further sanctions on Russian trade, including its...

Russian forces are closing in on the tactically important eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk after capturing a string of towns to its south, and Ukraine has actually halted production at its only coking coal mine nearby due to the advance. Here are some key points about Pokrovsk and the fight. WHAT IS POKROVSK? Pokrovsk is a roadway and rail center in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk area, which had a pre-war population of some 60,000 people. While the majority of people have actually run away, Ukraine estimated last month that approximately 11,000 still stay in the city. It pushes an essential road...

Ukraine increased rolled steel production by almost 16% in 2024 to 6.2 million heaps and increased exports thanks to higher raw steel output, its steel producers' union stated late on Monday. Ukraine's steel output increased by 21.6% to 7.58 million metric lots in spite of production suffering because Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, which has actually led to the destruction of steel plants. 2 industry sources informed Reuters this week that Ukraine has halted production at its only coking coal mine, situated in Pokrovsk, due to advancing Russian forces. That postures a fresh difficulty for a market which in...

Ukraine's steel output increased by 21.6% in 2024 to 7.58 million metric loads, its manufacturers union said late on Thursday, though combating that is closing in on the nation's only coking coal mine threatens to slash volumes this year. Steel production has actually currently suffered considering that Russia's. intrusion on Feb. 24, 2022, which has caused the damage of. leading steel plants. Ukraine, formerly a major steel manufacturer and exporter,. reported a 70.7% drop in output in 2022 to 6.3 million lots. It. fell to 6 million heaps in 2023. The steelmakers' union said in October the potential closure. of...

Chemicals factories founded or owned by a few of Russia's wealthiest men are supplying components to plants that manufacture explosives utilized by Moscow's military throughout the war in Ukraine, an analysis of train and financial data shows. Reuters determined five chemical companies, in which 5 Western-sanctioned billionaires hold stakes, that offered more than 75% of the key chemicals delivered by rail to some of Russia's biggest explosives factories from the start of the war up until September this year, according to the railway information. The news agency's analysis shows for the very first time how heavily factories forming part of...

China's top copper smelters accepted rate assistance for processing charges in the very first quarter of 2025 that was lower than the existing quarter, industry sources stated on Thursday, reflecting a lingering lack of copper concentrates. Smelter representatives at a meeting of the China Smelters Purchase Group in the commercial center of Shanghai agreed new guidance for copper concentrate processing treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) at $25 per metric load and 2.5 cents per pound, stated four sources with understanding of the matter. That was down 28.6% from the fourth-quarter assistance of $35. per lot and 3.5 cents per pound....