GLOBAL NEWS:-
The Indian rupee on Thursday strengthened marginally against the US dollar, tracking gains in its Asian peers after minutes of the US Federal Reserve confirmed patience on rate hikes. India’s December retail inflation is expected to have eased to its lowest since June 2017 as food costs fell and fuel prices rose at a slower pace, a Reuters poll showed, giving the central bank breathing space to keep policy on hold.Inflation likely cooled to 2.20 percent in December - close to the lower end of the Reserve Bank of India’s medium-term target range of 2.0-6.0 percent - according to the Jan 3-9 poll of 41 economists. In November, inflation was at 2.33 percent.
German imports fell unexpectedly in November, outstripping a drop in exports and widening the trade surplus, data showed on Wednesday, in a further sign that Europe’s largest economy is likely to post meagre growth in the fourth quarter of 2018. Seasonally adjusted imports fell by 1.6 percent on the month in November while exports edged down 0.4 percent, the Federal Statistics Office said. The trade surplus widened to 19.0 billion euros ($21.78 billion) from an upwardly revised 17.9 billion euros.
China's producer price index (PPI) in December rose 0.9 percent from a year earlier, marking the lowest rate since September 2016 and slowing sharply from the previous month's 2.7 percent increase, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Thursday.Analysts polled by Reuters had expected producer inflation would cool to 1.6 percent last month.The consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.9 percent last month compared with a year earlier, also below market expectations for a 2.1 percent gain.That compares with November's 2.2 percent growth, and Beijing's 2018 target of around 3 percent.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said he hopes North Korea and the United States can meet each other half way as they plan a second summit between leaders Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump, China’s official Xinhua news agency said on Thursday.
Asian shares took a breather on Thursday after an extended rally, as markets awaited more news on U.S.-China trade talks that have raised hopes of a deal to avert an all-out trade war between the economic giants.MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.2 percent, reversing course after briefly touching a near four-week high early in the session.
Japan’s Shinzo Abe is likely to urge British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday to do everything she can to avoid a disorderly Brexit that some of Japan’s leading companies have warned could be a disaster. Japanese firms have spent more than 46 billion pounds in Britain, encouraged by successive British governments since Margaret Thatcher promising them a business-friendly base from which to trade across Europe.
The future of Brexit remains deeply uncertain - with options ranging from a disorderly exit from the EU to another membership referendum - because British lawmakers are expected on Jan. 15 to vote down the deal May struck with the EU in November.
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Thursday the country’s economy was expected to continue expanding moderately.Under a policy dubbed yield curve control, the BOJ guides short-term interest rates at minus 0.1 percent and the 10-year government bond yield around zero percent to achieve its 2 percent inflation target.
The dollar weakened versus major peers such as the euro and yen on Thursday due to growing expectations the Federal Reserve will pause its rate tightening cycle this year.Minutes from the Fed’s Dec. 18-19 meeting revealed that several policymakers were in favor of the US central bank keeping rates steady this year.
Trade talks between China and the United States this week were extensive, and helped establish a foundation for the resolution of each others’ concerns, China’s commerce ministry said on Thursday, but gave no details on the issues at stake.The three-day talks in Beijing that wrapped up on Wednesday were the first face-to-face negotiations since U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met in Buenos Aires in December and agreed on a 90-day truce in a trade war that has disrupted the flow of hundreds of billions of dollars of goods.
At stake are scheduled U.S. tariff increase on $200 billion in Chinese imports. Trump has said he would increase those duties to 25 percent from 10 percent currently if no deal is reached by March 2, and has threatened to tax all imports from China if Beijing fails to cede to U.S. demands.
Britain’s finance minister Philip Hammond said it would be against British people’s interests to leave the European Union without an exit deal, but declined to say how the government would respond if parliament refused to back its Brexit plans.
With less than three months before Britain is due to leavethe EU, Britain’s parliament on Wednesday began a five-day debate over Minister Theresa May’s deal with the rest of the bloc ahead of a vote in the lower house next Tuesday.May has refused to retreat from her unpopular deal, whichenvisages close trading ties with the EU after leaving in March,pressing ahead with a vote she is expected to lose.
Pakistan expects to sign investment agreements with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the coming weeks, the prime minister’s office said, as Islamabad builds on its ties with states that have recently lent it billions of dollars. Pakistan expecting $10-billion-plus Saudi investments and the MoUs to be signed in this regard will not be common or vague but concrete agreements, Dawn quoted him as saying, adding that Saudi Aramco would invest in an oil refinery and also set up its own refinery in Pakistan.The investments would be in addition to a $6-billion package provided to Pakistan by Saudi Arabia and a similar-sized package, made up of loans and an oil payment credit facility, offered by the UAE.
Gold prices rose on Thursday as growing expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will pause its rate tightening cycle this year and an impasse between U.S. President Donald Trump and Democrats on funding for a border wall weighed on the dollar.
Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,295.85 per ounce as of 0436 GMT, hovering near Friday’s peak of $1,298.42 - a level last seen in mid-June.U.S. gold futures gained 0.4 percent to $1,297.2 per ounce.Gold is getting a bit of support out of a dovish Fed and institutional instability in the United States.
Oil prices fell by about 1 percent on Thursday on swelling U.S. supply and amid a cautious reaction to trade talks between the United States and China, the world’s two largest oil consumers, that finished without concrete details to ending their dispute.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were at $51.80 per barrel at 0432 GMT, down 56 cents, or 1.1 percent, from their last settlement.International Brent crude futures were down 0.9 percent, or 57 cents, at $60.87 per barrel.
Both oil benchmarks rose by around 5 percent the previous day as financial markets around the world surged on the hopes that Washington and Beijing may soon be able to end their trade dispute, soothing fears of an all-out trade war between the two biggest economies and its possible impact on global growth.By Thursday, however, the positive feelings ebbed because of a lack of a details on the talks despite a warm statement form China on the outcome, and financial markets took a breather from the rally.
Bitcoin and other major digital coin prices were mixed on Thursday in Asia as international regulators sent different signals. The EU is mulling unified regulations while Thailand’s watchdog green-lighted crypto businesses. Bitcoin slid 0.13% to $3,992.7.4 by 11:28 PM ET (04:28?GMT). Ethereum was down 1.69% to $149.2, XRP rose 3.19% to $0.3758, and Litecoin lost?2.58% to $38.53.