Day: May 27, 2022

The trade volume on Turkiye’s spot natural gas market showed an increase of 18% to 76.6 million Turkish liras on Thursday, Turkiye’s Energy Exchange Istanbul (EXIST) data showed on Friday.

Total trade on Wednesday amounted to 64.9 million liras.

On Thursday’s spot market, 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas cost 12,000.00 liras, while the cumulative natural gas trade volume amounted to around 6.38 million cubic meters.

Turkiye received 124.72 million cubic meters of pipeline gas on Thursday.

US$1 equals 16.40 liras at 1100 GMT on Friday.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The highest electricity price rate for one megawatt-hour on Turkiye’s day-ahead spot market for Saturday will be 2,750 Turkish liras at 10.00, 11.00, and 14.00, and between 18.00 and 22.00 local time (0700, 0800 and 1100, and between 1500 to 1900 GMT), according to official figures on Friday.

The lowest rate is determined as 1,200 liras at 07.00 local time (0400 GMT), the figures showed.

The Energy Exchange Istanbul (EXIST) data for the trade volume on Friday’s electricity market showed a decrease of 1.13% to 1.31 billion liras compared to Thursday.

The arithmetical and weighted average prices of electricity on the day-ahead spot market are calculated as 2,391.36 liras and 2,417.38 liras, respectively.

The highest electricity price rate for one megawatt-hour for Friday was set as 2,750 liras between 17.00 and 22.00 local time (1400 – 1900 GMT), with the lowest rate determined as 1,485.88 liras at 07.00 local time (0400 GMT), the figures show.

US$1 equals 16.40 liras at 1111 GMT on Friday.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The number of newly established companies in Turkiye rose 25.5% in April, compared to the same month of last year, the country’s top trade body said on Friday.?

A total of 10,751 companies were launched last month, up from 8,565 in April 2021, according to data released by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkiye (TOBB).?

On a monthly basis, however, the figure in April was down 3.9% from 11,188 recorded in March.

‘In April 2022, 1650 companies with foreign partners were established. 860 of these companies had Turkish partners, 136 had Russian Federation and 120 had Iranian partners,’ TOBB said in a statement.

The number of closed companies in April stood at 2,162 — up 59% from 1,360 in March and up 125.9% from 957 in April 2011.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Lael Brainard, the vice chair of the US Federal Reserve, said Thursday a regulatory framework is necessary for digital assets during her speech before the House of Representatives’ Committee on Financial Services.

“There has been explosive growth in an emergent digital financial system built around new digital assets and facilitated by crypto-asset platforms and stable coins as settlement assets,” she said. “In recent weeks, two widely used stable coins have come under considerable pressure.”

Brainard pointed out the price of the cryptocurrency Terra Luna, which plummeted to $0.0001310, from $92.31 a month ago. Its sibling UST, which was initially designed to be pegged one-to-one with the US dollar, also dove to $0.04264.

“These events underscore the need for clear regulatory guardrails to provide consumer and investor protection, protect financial stability, and ensure a level playing field for competition and innovation across the financial system,” Brainard said.

“The recent turmoil in crypto-financial markets makes clear that the actions we take now — whether on the regulatory framework or a digital dollar — should be robust to the future evolution of the financial system,” she added.

The Fed vice chair noted that central bank digital currency (CBDC), a digital form of a country’s sovereign currency, could coexist with and be complementary to stable coins.

“A CBDC would be attractive to risk-averse users during times of stress,” she said. “In future states where other major foreign currencies are issued in CBDC form, it is prudent to consider how the potential absence or presence of a US central bank digital dollar could affect the use of the dollar in global payments.”

While more than 100 countries are exploring or piloting CBDCs, including the Fed, just a handful have so far issued them.

Source: Anadolu Agency

US stocks ended with gains Thursday after positive results from US retailers, with the Nasdaq rising nearly 2.7%.

Major retailer Macy’s Inc. reported strong sales growth for the first quarter that exceeded expectations and raised its profit forecast for the year, prompting a nearly 20% surge in its shares.

Discount retail chains Dollar Tree and Dollar General, whose shares increased by 22% and 14%, respectively, also reported positive balance sheets.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 1.61%, or 516.91 points, at 32,637.19.

The S&P 500 rose 79.11 points, or 1.99%, to close at 4,057.84.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq increased 305.91 points, or 2.68%, to 11,740.65.

Major stock exchanges in Asia closed mixed Thursday, while European indices ended the day with gains.

Turkiye’s benchmark stock index was up 1.35% to end the day at 2,450.84 points.?

Source: Anadolu Agency

Chinese tech firm Baidu which specializes in internet services and artificial intelligence (AI) saw revenue growth in the first quarter of this year despite COVID-19 measures in the country, according to the firm’s financial results statement.

Baidu Core, which includes keyword-based marketing and AI products and services, posted a revenue of 21.4 billion yuan ($3.18 billion) in the first quarter, up 4% from the same period last year, said the statement released Thursday.

“Revenues from Baidu Core remained healthy with non-ad revenues increasing by 35% year-on-year, driven by Baidu AI Cloud, which grew 45% year-on-year in the quarter,” CFO Rong Luo noted in the statement.

Baidu CEO and co-founder Robin Li said the company’s business has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 resurgence in China since mid-March.

“Although challenges related to the virus continue to pressure our near-term business operations, we remain confident that our new AI businesses will boost the long-term growth of Baidu and contribute to China’s innovation-driven economy and sustainable development,” he added.

“Most notably, our new AI businesses are well aligned with China’s priorities in tech innovation, green transition and digital economy,” he later said during the firm’s earnings call.

Li also noted that the company won the first permit in China for driverless ride-hailing services on open roads in April.

Baidu’s search engine is the biggest in China, while its AI products and services are among the largest in the world.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Oil prices edged slightly lower from rises of almost $2 a barrel to reach a two-month high during previous trade due to a weaker US dollar, the increasing possibility of an EU ban on Russian oil and the upcoming summer driving season in the US.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $113.89 per barrel at 0704 GMT for a 0.22% decrease after closing the previous session at $114.14 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $113.77 per barrel at the same time for a 0.28% loss after the previous session closed at $114.09 a barrel.

Both benchmarks rose over $114 despite experts predicting the impossibility of any EU official ban on Russian oil and gas in the near future, with some countries having valid reasons for its rejection.

Experts say insurance measures would be more salient and make it costlier for Russia to export its crude, which would have a more severe impact than other measures taken so far.

Price rises were tempered on reports of EU talks with Israel on the prospect of importing Israeli natural gas liquefied at an Egyptian facility, a move that would decrease the bloc’s dependence on Russian natural gas and increase the likelihood of an EU ban on Russian resources.

However, crude oil prices, which are indexed to the US dollar, saw some support with the decreasing value of the greenback.

The US dollar index, which measures the value of the American dollar against a basket of currencies, including the Japanese yen, British pound, Canadian dollar, Swedish krona and Swiss franc, declined 0.21% to 101.62.

Meanwhile, over 39 million Americans are expected to hit the roads with the start of the summer driving season in the US, raising hopes of increased demand in the country.

The Memorial Day weekend, which falls on May 30 in the US, marks the start of the country’s summer driving season.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, added 49 points, or 1.47%, to 3,387 at 1053 GMT.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stock exchange increased 176 points, or 0.66%, to 26,781 points.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, was the best performer of the day by rising 581 points, or 2.89%, to 20,697.

China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange increased 7 points, or 0.23%, to close at 3,130 points.

The Indian Sensex benchmark added 632 points, or 1.17%, to end the day at 54,884.

The Singapore index rose 21 points, or 0.67%, to finish at 3,230 points.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkiye moved up four spots in World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI) 2021.

Turkiye, which ranked 49th in 2019, now climbed four spots to 45th place in the latest index.

“The picture looked very different two years later, as COVID-19 lockdowns hit the travel and tourism sector hard. In 2020 alone, it faced losses of $4.5 trillion and 62 million jobs, impacting the living standards and well-being of communities across the globe,” WEF said in a statement.

“International tourist arrivals rose by 18 million in January 2022 compared with a year earlier. This equals the increase for the whole of 2021 from 2020, but January’s numbers were still 67% below the same month in 2019, according to the UNWTO,” it added.

Japan came on top of the 2021 index, followed by the US, Spain, France and Germany, according to the index that was released on Tuesday.

Indonesia was the most improved country, climbing up 12 spots to rank 32nd, while Malaysia dropped the most, nine spots to 38th place.

The WEF said TTDI 2021, which covers 117 countries, was collected before the war in Ukraine, therefore it removed the Russian Federation and Ukraine from the ranking, saying data for these economies no longer reflects current or longer-term trends and conditions.

Some of the organizations that helped to create the index included the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

Source: Anadolu Agency