Day: March 29, 2022

Global markets are following a positive course on Tuesday with the backing of decline in oil prices and hope for progress in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

Asian stocks were on rise during the day as US and Europe futures were broadly looking up.

Delegations from Russia and Ukraine are holding a fresh round of peace talks in Istanbul to end the war which has continued for over a month.

Ukraine will be demanding a cease-fire and a sustainable agreement for it during the talks, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Monday.

Crude oil prices plummeted more than 9% on Monday as supply fears over ongoing and further Russian oil disruptions were overshadowed by demand concerns after Chinese financial hub Shanghai were put under a COVID-19 lockdown.

Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government, central bank and state-owned energy company Gazprom to switch the payment currency for gas supplies to “unfriendly countries” to rubles by March 31. The Group of 7 of the world’s major economic powers rejected Russia’s demand.

On Tuesday, investors are following Germany’s consumer sentiment expectation for April, US JOLTS job openings for February and US consumer confidence in February.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Oil prices edged lower on Tuesday over possible deal between Russia and Ukraine as well as fears about a weak demand in China after the country decided to lock down over 28 million people as part of its COVID mitigation measures.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $109.05 per barrel at 0651 GMT for a 0.4% decrease after closing the previous session at $109.49 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $105.44 per barrel at the same time for a 0,49% loss after the previous session closed at $105.96 a barrel.

After reporting a new daily record for asymptomatic infections, Shanghai, China’s financial capital, was shut down in two stages over the next eight days.

Up to 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) of demand is expected to be impacted for the duration of the restrictions.

“Global oil demand has been showing signs of weakness in the month of March and this weakness is expected to persist through April and May due to the impact of high oil prices globally, the negative effects of sanctions and war in Russia and Ukraine, and the consequences of increasing lockdowns in China,” Claudio Galimberti, Rystad Energy’s senior vice president of analysis, said in an e-mailed note.

Experts say between 1.2 and 1.5 million bpd of Russian crude exports have been lost since the start of the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, while around 3 million bpd is expected to be rerouted from Europe to Asia.

“The OPEC+ meeting on March 31, 2022 will shed light on whether the UAE and Saudi Arabia are willing and able to fill some of the gap left by Russia’s crude export loss,” Galimberti said.

Investors are now monitoring the upcoming meeting of major oil producers of the OPEC+ group, of which Russia is a member.

Except for slight output increases from baseline rises of the UAE, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Russia starting from May, the group is expected to keep its 400,000 bpd production scheme unchanged.

The market players also focused on talks between Russia and Ukraine to be held in Istanbul later in the day.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Major Asian stock markets closed on Tuesday in positive territory except for China, as hope for progress in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine has fueled risk appetite.

Delegations from Russia and Ukraine held a fresh round of peace talks in Istanbul on Tuesday to end the war which has continued for over a month.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, rose 41 points, or 1.14%, to 3,640 points at 1026GMT.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stock exchange jumped 308 points, or 1.10%, to close Tuesday at 28,252 points amid the dovish stance of the Bank of Japan.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, gained 205 points, or 0.95%, to 21,890.

India’s Sensex benchmark climbed 350 points, or 0.61%, to end the day at 57,943.?

The Singapore index was marginally up by 1.91 points, or 0.06%, to 3,433.

On the other hand, China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange slipped 10.6 points, or 0.33%, to finish at 3,203 points as the country imposed a COVID-19 lockdown in its financial hub.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkiye’s banks registered a net profit of 39 billion Turkish liras ($2.8 billion) in February, the country’s banking watchdog said on Tuesday.

Total assets of the Turkish banking sector hit 9.5 trillion Turkish liras ($687.4 billion) last month, up 55% from February 2021, according to latest data from the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA).

Loans, the largest sub-category of assets, were around 5.2 trillion Turkish liras ($375 billion) with a 44% year-on-year rise.

On the liabilities side, deposits held at lenders in Turkiye – the largest liabilities item – totaled over 5.5 trillion Turkish liras ($402 billion), up 60% from a year ago.

Pointing to lenders’ minimum capital requirements, the banking sector’s regulatory capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio – the higher the better – was 19.05% by the end of this February, up from 18.17% last February.

The ratio of non-performing loans to total cash loans – the lower the better – was 3.02%, dropping from 4.02% in February 2021.

As of the end of February, a total of 54 state/private/foreign lenders – including deposit banks, participation banks, development and investment banks – were operating in Turkiye.

The sector had 201,552 employees serving through 11,040 branches both in Turkiye and abroad, along with 48,852 ATMs.

Source: Anadolu Agency