Day: December 2, 2021

Turkey’s exports reached an all-time high with $21.5B in November, up 33.4% year-on-year, the trade minister said on Thursday.

The country’s exports through January-November totaled $203.1 billion, exceeding the pre-pandemic level, Mehmet Mus said during a news conference in the capital Ankara, where he revealed the country’s preliminary foreign trade data for the last month.

In November, the country’s imports rose to $26.8 billion, marking a 26.7% annual increase, while the figure saw a 22.9% rise to $242.3 in January-November compared to the same period last year.

The exports-to-imports coverage ratio reached 80% in November, up 4 percentage points from the same month last year, he said, adding it was recorded at 101.2% excluding energy.

The $48.3 billion foreign trade volume in November is the highest monthly figure, Mus said.

Turkey’s foreign trade deficit decreased by 13.6% in the January-November period compared to the same period last year and decreased to $39.2 billion.

The effect of energy imports was seen in both imports and foreign trade deficit in November, he stated.

Exports driving force of growth

Exports continued to be the driving force of growth in the third quarter, Mus remarked, further saying contribution of net exports of goods and services to growth was 6.8 points.

“Thus, 92% of the high rate of growth in the third quarter stemmed from net exports of goods and services. In other words, Turkey has grown by producing and selling its products abroad,” he underlined.

The trade minister also said many EU countries and the US have shifted their investments to Turkey through their supply network amid the COVID-19 pandemic, leading Turkey to benefit from its location and competitiveness.

These results show that the increase in Turkey’s exports is not temporary but permanent, Mus said, adding Turkey embraces new investments and business models as a strong and reliable supplier.

“It is a shallow approach to attribute the superior performance in exports only to the exchange rate,” he stressed.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Oil prices increased on Thursday due to market expectations of a delay in the implementation of an incremental supply return policy of producers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) given the raised demand concerns from the spread of the new COVID-19 variant.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $69.75 per barrel at 0626 GMT for a 1.3% increase after closing the previous session at $68.87 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $66.47 per barrel at the same time for a 1.4% rise after trade ended at $65.57 a barrel in the previous session.

Investors are focused on the upcoming OPEC+ ministerial meeting on Thursday, where major producers are set to decide the production volume for January.

The OPEC+ group had been adding 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) each month since August this year, however, the market sentiment is that growing concerns over the new COVID-19 variant may result in a delay to this pact to balance the market.

Last week, South African scientists announced the discovery of a new highly-mutated COVID-19 variant and reported it to the World Health Organization (WHO), which named it omicron.

Days later, several countries imposed travel bans on South Africa and other southern African countries, including Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

The WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that at least 23 countries from five of six WHO regions have now reported cases of the new omicron variant, with numbers only expected to grow.

US stocks decline

Meanwhile, US commercial crude oil inventories decreased 0.2% during the week ending Nov. 26, according to the latest data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Inventories fell by 900,000 barrels to 433.1 million barrels, against the market expectation of a 1.7 million-barrel fall.

Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in commercial crude stocks, also declined by 1.9 million barrels to 602.6 million barrels last week, the data revealed. However, gasoline inventories increased by 4 million barrels to 215.4 million barrels over that period.

The less-than-expected inventory drop added to the negative market sentiment, putting downward pressure on prices.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Growing worldwide concern over the new coronavirus omicron variant saw some major Asian markets drop on Thursday, while European indices were also in negative territory at midday.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 shed 182.25 points, or 0.65%, to finish the day at 27,753, while China’s Shanghai stock exchange dropped 3.05 points, or 0.09%, to 3,573.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, was up by 1.09 points, or 0.03%, to close at around 3,738 points.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, climbed by 130.01 points, or 0.55%, to 23,788.

The Indian Sensex benchmark gained 736.78 points, or 1.28%, to close at 58,421, and the Singapore index rose by 6.14 points, or 0.20%, to 3,092.

Source: Anadolu Agency

US stocks opened higher Thursday, recovering from major losses in the previous session amid risks stemming from the first case of the omicron coronavirus variant in the country.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up almost 430 points, or 1.27%, to 34,442 at 9.50 a.m. The blue chip index lost 461 points Wednesday.

The SandP 500 rose 46 points, or 1%, to 4,559 after falling 54 points in the previous session.

The Nasdaq gained 28 points, or 0.2%, to 15,282, after the tech-heavy index was off 283 points at the last closing bell.

The US identified its first case of the omicron variant in the state of California on Wednesday, increasing worries for investors amid potential quarantine measures and a halt to economic recovery around the world.

Despite climbing above 30 on Wednesday for the first time since March, the VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, was down 9.8% to 28.08.

The dollar index fell 0.17% to 95.86, while the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes was up 0.6% to 1.443%.

Crude prices were down more than 1%. Brent crude fell to $68.18 per barrel, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude was down to $64.94.

Precious metals were mixed with gold losing 0.9% to $1,765 an ounce but silver was up 0.1% to $22.34.

Source: Anadolu Agency