WORLDWIDE : HEADLINES
China vows ‘zero tolerance’ towards illegal market behavior
SHANGHAI – China will show “zero tolerance” towards securities and accounting fraud and will step up a crackdown on major capital-markets crimes, financial regulators said after a meeting of the Financial Stability Development Committee.
The meeting on Sunday was chaired by Vice Premier Liu He, the cabinet-equivalent State Council said in a statement.
The regulators said they would toughen penalties and establish a crime-busting team with relevant agencies to strengthen cooperation.
Full Coverage: REUTERS
WORLDWIDE: BUSINESS / FINANCE / MARKET / ECONOMY
Dollar starts week on back foot ahead of data, earnings
TOKYO – The U.S. dollar edged down in Asian trade on Monday as investors looked to looming economic data from around the world and U.S. corporate earnings to gauge whether the markets’ guarded optimism on the economic outlook is justified.
The greenback had ended its third week of losses on Friday as investors bought into risk-sensitive currencies on bets that the worst of the pandemic’s sweeping impact was over.
The dollar index against a basket of major currencies slipped 0.2% in early Monday trade to 96.452 =USD.
Full Coverage: REUTERS
Asian shares extend rally, U.S. earnings to test optimism
SYDNEY – Asian shares crept toward five-month peaks on Monday as investors wagered the U.S. earnings season would see most companies beat forecasts given expectations had been lowered so far by coronavirus lockdowns.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.15%, having climbed sharply last week on the back of surging Chinese stocks, which added another 1% on Monday..
Japan’s Nikkei gained 1.7% and South Korea 1.2%. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.5% even as some U.S. states reported record new cases of COVID-19, a divergence that shows no sign of stopping.
EUROSTOXX 50 futures added 1.1% and FTSE futures 0.8%.
Full Coverage: REUTERS
Oil Search to write off some PNG exploration assets, power project
Oil Search Ltd (OSH.AX) said on Monday it plans to write off around $380 million, mostly on some exploration assets and a gas-to-power project in Papua New Guinea, due to the outlook for oil and gas prices and the shut down of a gold mine.
The Papua New Guinea (PNG)-focused oil and gas company will record a non-cash, pre-tax charge of between $360 million and $400 million in its half-year results that would not impact its cash earnings, it said in a statement to the stock exchange.
A strategic review found that a number of assets in PNG were now of low priority either due to lower prospectivity or less than optimum project economics, Oil Search said, and as a result, would not be currently pursued.
Full Coverage: REUTERS
Oil slips as traders eye supply cut easing at OPEC meeting
SINGAPORE – Oil slipped in early Asian trade on Monday as traders eyed an OPEC technical meeting this week which is expected to recommend an easing in supply cuts that have been propping up crude prices.
Brent crude LCOc1 fell 27 cents to $42.97 a barrel by 0114 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 was at $40.27 a barrel, down 28 cents.
Oil was little changed last week as a resurgence of coronavirus cases prompted several U.S. states to impose tighter travel restrictions that could dampen oil demand recovery at the world’s largest consumer.
However, prices rose more than 2% on Friday after an upward revision by the International Energy Agency in its 2020 oil demand by 400,000 barrels per day.
Full Coverage: REUTERS
