Day: July 21, 2022

Medipol Basaksehir played to a 1-1 draw Thursday with Maccabi Netanya in the first leg of a UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying match.

Maccabi Netanya scored first with an early goal from Gil Itzhak in the second minute at Istanbul’s Fatih Terim Stadium.

Patryk Szysz came off the bench for Basaksehir to level the score with a goal in the 81st minute.

Maccabi Netanya defender Plamen Galabov was shown a red card in stoppage time.

The second leg will be played on July 28 in Maccabi Netanya’s home ground, Netanya Stadium.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Galatasaray confirmed Thursday that they inked a three-year contract with French right back Leo Dubois.

The Lions said Olympique Lyon agreed to move Dubois to the Istanbul side for €2.5 million ($2.5 million).

The club added that the French footballer will receive €1.8 million each season.

Dubois, 27, helped France win the UEFA Nations League title in 2021.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Oil prices decreased on Thursday over growing demand concerns after official US data showed a build-up in gasoline inventories in the world’s largest oil-consuming country.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $106.37 per barrel at 09.32 a.m. local time (0632 GMT) for a 0.51% decrease after the previous session closed at $106.92 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $99.10 per barrel at the same time for a 0.78% drop after the previous session closed at $99.88 a barrel.

Data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday showed that gasoline inventories increased by 3.5 million barrels to 228.4 million barrels, signaling low demand in the world’s largest oil-consuming country despite the peak driving season.

However, the country’s commercial crude oil inventories decreased 0.1% during the week ending July 15, falling by around 400,000 barrels to 426.6 million barrels, against the market expectation of a rise of 300,000 barrels.

Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in commercial crude stocks, also declined by 5 million barrels to 480.1 million barrels last week, the data revealed.

On the supply side, worries over Libyan cuts eased as the country’s National Oil Corporation announced Wednesday that preparations are underway to export crude oil after the lifting of force majeure on terminals and oil fields.

“On July 20, a tanker is scheduled to arrive at the terminal of Zueitina to load one million barrels of Abutifal crude, and a tanker will arrive at Sedra terminal scheduled during the period from July 19 to 20. In addition, two tankers will arrive at Ras Lanuf terminal on 20/21 on July,” the statement read.

It also noted that a tanker is scheduled to load 600,000 barrels of Brega crude during this period. “These arrangements have been made in order to resume production’s operations,” the company stressed.

Meanwhile, repair work is continuing following third-party damage to the power supply to a facility on the Keystone pipeline, according to Canada’s TC Energy Corporation. The pipeline has been working at a reduced rate as a result of the incident since July 17.

“Our system continues to operate safely at a reduced rate as a result of the incident. We are unable to further discuss operations as it involves commercially sensitive information. We can confirm there was no material impact to TC Energy-owned facilities during the incident. Currently, there is no timeline for completion of repairs and restoration of power service,” the company said.

Source: Anadolu Agency

All eyes are on the European Central Bank’s interest rate decision on Thursday, with economists expecting a 25-basis-point rise in eurozone borrowing costs.

The bank is expected to raise rates for the first time in more than 10 years as eurozone inflation hit 8.6% in June.

Earlier reports suggested that the bank would unveil “anti-fragmentation” tool to restrain the risk of eurozone fragmentation in borrowing costs between the bloc’s strongest and weakest members.

“The pandemic has left lasting vulnerabilities in the euro area economy which are indeed contributing to the uneven transmission of the normalization of our monetary policy across jurisdictions,” the bank previously said.

Meanwhile, despite a global trend of hiking rates, Japan’s central bank on Thursday decided to maintain its ultra-low interest rates at minus 0.1% for short term and at 0% for long term.

The Wall Street indexes finished higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 rising 0.59% for two consecutive days for the first time in nearly two weeks.

The Nasdaq 100, on the other hand, diverged positively, rising 1.55%.

Shares such as Bitcoin and Coinbase fell after Tesla announced that it had sold 75% of its Bitcoins.

Meanwhile, Microsoft announced that it will remove many new job postings, while Ford is preparing to lay off nearly 8,000 people.

Announcing its second-quarter balance sheet, Tesla’s earnings per share exceeded expectations and left behind the highest vehicle production month in the company’s history.

However, the company’s shares gave back gains as the vehicle delivery growth target was found to be conservative.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Despite a global trend of hiking rates, Japan’s central bank on Thursday decided to maintain its ultra-low interest rates, at minus 0.1% for short-term and 0% for long-term.

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) will also continue to conduct fixed-rate purchase operations for consecutive days at 0.25%.

In terms of monetary policies, the bank differentiates from other developed countries’ banks despite the current inflationary environment across the world.

“Japan’s economy is likely to recover toward the middle of the projection period, with the impact of the pandemic and supply-side constraints waning,” the bank said in a statement.

Although the economy was expected to be under downward pressure stemming from a rise in commodity prices due to the Russia-Ukraine war, “Japan’s economy is projected to continue growing at a pace above its potential growth rate,” the statement noted.

The bank lowered its 2022 growth forecast to 2.4% from April’s projection of 2.9% due to factors such as a slowdown in overseas economies and global supply-side constraints.

It also increased its 2022 inflation forecast to 2.3% from 1.9%, saying fluctuations in international commodity prices have been significant and that will spread to import prices and domestic prices.

The BOJ reiterated that it will not hesitate to take extra easing measures if necessary, saying it will support financing, mainly of firms, and maintain stability in financial markets.

It also expected short- and long-term policy interest rates to remain at their present or lower levels.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Türkiye started work on the fourth reactor of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Mersin on the Mediterranean coast on Thursday.

Work on the fourth reactor means that the country’s first nuclear plant is one step closer to the official start of electricity generation set for 2023.

The four reactors are expected to operate around the clock for 60 years.

Energy Minister Fatih Donmez confirmed at the groundbreaking ceremony that nuclear power is an important option in meeting increasing energy demand in the country after the pandemic and for global emissions reduction.

“When completed, the four reactors will alone meet about 10% of our electricity demand,” Donmez said.

The country’s first nuclear power plant has ensured that Turkish engineers will gain the required knowledge and experience through their education abroad to operate nuclear plants.

To date, 246 out of 317 students have completed nuclear power education in Russia and are working at Akkuyu, while the remaining 71 are still receiving their education in Russia.

“Akkuyu will play an important role not only with the electricity it will produce but also with its contribution to our green energy goal,” Donmez said.

Akkuyu will prevent 35 million tons of carbon emissions per year and 2.1 billion tons of carbon emissions over its lifetime of 60 years.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Ukraine’s central bank on Thursday devalued the national currency by 25% against the greenback in order to protect its foreign exchange reserves as the ongoing war continues to batter its economy.

The move comes a day after it was reported that Ukraine had requested foreign debt payments from key creditors.

It altered the official exchange rate of the hryvnia to the US dollar by 25%, to UAH/USD 36.5686, according to a statement from the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).

The decision was motivated by a shift in the fundamental parameters of the economy, it said.

“This step will improve the competitiveness of Ukrainian producers, converge exchange rate conditions for different groups of businesses and households, and support the resilience of the economy during the war,” it added.

The adjustment of the official hryvnia exchange rate will have only a limited impact on the acceleration of price growth, the central bank asserted, adding that “instead, fixing the official rate at a new, more stable level will allow the NBU to keep price developments in Ukraine under control.”

“Changing the exchange rate will raise inflows – and thus sales – of foreign currency revenues by exporters, minimize the speculative behavior of market participants, and allow stabilizing exchange rate expectations,” the bank said.

Source: Anadolu Agency