CAIRO, June 23 (Reuters) &#8211; The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday it has secured sufficient financing pledges to allow it to provide comprehensive debt relief to Sudan, clearing a final hurdle towards wider relief on external debt of at least $50 billion.



More than 100 IMF member countries have pledged to provide more than $1.415 billion in financing which will enable the clearance of Sudan&#8217;s arrears to the IMF, the IMF said in a statement.



Sudan is emerging from decades of economic sanctions and isolation under ousted former President Omar al-Bashir.



It had built up huge arrears on its debt, but has made rapid progress towards having much of it forgiven under the IMF and World Bank&#8217;s Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) scheme, which would reopen access to badly needed cheap international financing.



&#8220;Sudan is now one step closer to reaching the HIPC Decision Point, a landmark which will significantly reduce Sudan&#8217;s total debt and allow access to fresh funds and new investments critical to boost growth and fight poverty,&#8221; said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in the statement.



A transitional military-civilian power-sharing government is trying to pull the country out of a deep economic crisis with inflation at over 300% and shortages of basic goods fuelled by a lack of foreign currency reserves.



In order to reach the &#8220;decision point&#8221; that would unlock the HIPC process later in June, Sudan recently cleared its arrears to the World Bank and the African Development Bank with bridge loans from Western states.



The country also has gone through rapid economic reforms, including on Tuesday when it eliminated its customs exchange rate, used to calculate import duties, as the final step in a devaluation of its local currency.



The remaining step was to clear Sudan&#8217;s arrears to the IMF, which France confirmed it would facilitate through a $1.5 billion bridge loan, and for that loan to be covered by member state pledges. 



(Reporting by Mahmoud Mourad Editing by Richard Pullin)

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IMF secures sufficient pledges to provide comprehensive debt relief to Sudan

LONDON, June 22 (Reuters) &#8211; Crude oil prices retreated on Tuesday, after Brent rose above $75 a barrel for the first time since April 2019 and as OPEC+ begins discussions on raising oil production, but a strong demand outlook underpinned prices.



Brent crude futures fell 45 cents, or 0.6%, to $74.45 a barrel by 1200 GMT, after hitting a session high of $75.30 a barrel, the strongest since April 25, 2019.



U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at $73.15 a barrel, down 51 cents, 0.7%.



OPEC+ is discussing a gradual increase of oil output from August, but no decision has been taken on the exact volume yet, an OPEC+ source said on Tuesday.



The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, is already returning 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd) to the market from May through July as part of a plan to gradually unwind last year&#8217;s record output curbs, as demand recovers from the pandemic.



The group meets next on July 1.



Both benchmarks have risen for the last four weeks in response to the rollout of global COVID-19 vaccinations and an expected pick-up in summer travel.



&#8221; of tight physical markets and healthy demand perceptions, the risk remains skewed to the upside,&#8221; oil brokerage PVM said.



BofA Global Research raised its Brent crude price forecasts for this year and next, saying that tighter oil supply and recovering demand could push oil briefly to $100 per barrel in 2022.



BP CEO Bernard Looney told Reuters on Tuesday there was &#8220;a very strong possibility&#8221; that these price levels would be sustained over the coming years, adding &#8220;and if they do, it&#8217;s very good for our strategy.&#8221;



Negotiations to revive the Iran nuclear deal took a pause on Sunday after hardline judge Ebrahim Raisi won the country&#8217;s presidential election.



Raisi on Monday backed talks between Iran and six world powers to revive a 2015 nuclear deal but flatly rejected meeting U.S. President Joe Biden, even if Washington removed all sanctions.



U.S. crude stocks were expected to drop for the fifth consecutive week, while distillate and gasoline were seen rising last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday. 



(Additional reporting by Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo; editing by Barbara Lewis and Jason Neely)

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Brent rises above $75 a barrel on strong demand outlook

LONDON, June 22 (Reuters) &#8211; A planned $650 billion increase in the International Monetary Fund&#8217;s Special Drawing Rights will restore complete reserve adequacy in five emerging market economies, S&amp;P Global said on Tuesday.



Zambia, Jordan, El Salvador, Benin and Togo would all receive the biggest boost to their financial position from the IMF&#8217;s plan to raise SDRs this year to help low-income countries hit by the coronavirus pandemic, the ratings agency said.



The five are among 44 emerging market countries rated &#8216;B+&#8217; or below by S&amp;P that were analysed by the rating agency to see what impact the allocation would have on their reserve adequacy.



An additional two of the 44 &#8212; Democratic Republic of Congo and Suriname &#8212; would see at least one of three reserve adequacy measures restored, but would still fail on at least one of the benchmarks, S&amp;P said.



The United States and other Group of Seven nations are considering reallocating $100 billion from the IMF&#8217;s reserve asset to help countries struggling to cope with the COVID-19 crisis, the White House said earlier this month.



It would take a reallocation of an estimated 42% of wealthy country SDR allocations to lower-income countries, both rated and unrated, to bring the reserve levels in all rated lower-income countries up to complete reserve adequacy, S&amp;P said.



Following the initial SDR allocation, S&amp;P estimated a total of $189 billion would still be required to bring all remaining &#8216;B+&#8217; or lower rated sovereigns up to adequate levels. However, around $95 billion of the gap will accrue to Turkey and Bahrain, two middle-income countries that arguably would not receive support from richer countries.



In contrast, seven countries &#8211; Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Kenya, Bolivia, Congo Republic, Belize, and Suriname &#8211; would need less than $1 billion each to shore up reserves to levels deemed adequate by all three benchmarks, S&amp;P estimated. 



(Reporting by Tom Arnold, Editing by William Maclean)

Five emerging markets to benefit most from IMF’s SDR move -S&P

June 22 (Reuters) &#8211; Emerging market assets rose briefly but then extended losses for a sixth day in a row on Tuesday as investors looked to more monetary policy hints from the United States, while Belarusian government bonds and the currency stabilized after steep losses.



MSCI&#8217;s index of EM shares inched lower after a bruising five days when it lost over 2%, while a currency equivalent stayed at one-month lows.



U.S. Fed Chair Jerome Powell&#8217;s testimony to Congress on Tuesday will be a focus for markets after his prepared comments said the U.S. economy continues to show &#8220;sustained improvement&#8221;, but that inflation was a concern.



Analysts at Maybank said that markets would welcome some reassurance from the Fed that a tightening cycle will not start sooner than planned, as suggested by some Fed members.



The Belarusian rouble was mostly flat while yields on dollar bonds came off highs hit on Monday when the West imposed new sanctions on Belarus over the forced landing of a passenger flight to detain a dissident journalist.



Russian ties with some world powers also came under pressure after the European Union included Russian businessman Mikhail Gutseriyev, the largest single foreign investor in Belarus, in its sanctions.



Separately, the Kremlin on Monday said it did not expect the United States to stop trying to &#8220;contain&#8221; Russia amid talk of new U.S. sanctions on Moscow over the alleged poisoning if a Kremlin critic.



The Russian rouble made lazy gains against a stronger dollar, staying just over 2% off this year&#8217;s highs.



The South African rand fell 0.2% after a 1% rally last session when it was one of the rare gainers against the dollar, while the lira pulled up xx% from all-time lows hit on Monday.



Hungary&#8217;s forint edged lower against the euro with all eyes on a central bank meeting later in the day. A 25 basis point hike is expected, making it the first European Union central bank to tighten policy since the coronavirus pandemic.



For GRAPHIC on emerging market FX performance in 2021, see <a href="http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh">http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh</a> 



For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging index performance in 2021, see <a href="https://tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX">https://tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX</a>



(Reporting by Susan Mathew in Bengaluru; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

World map with charts and graphs as symbols of global finance

Stocks, currencies look to Powell after hawkish remarks rattled markets

SINGAPORE, June 22 (Reuters) &#8211; Global shares extended their recovery on Tuesday from four week lows, as investors focused on prospects for post-pandemic economic growth, rather than fret more over the hawkish stance taken by the U.S. Federal Reserve at a policy meeting last week.



European stocks looked set to build on gains in Asian markets as EuroSTOXX 50 futures rose 0.4% and FTSE futures were up 0.3%.



MSCI&#8217;s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.4%, moving above Monday&#8217;s four-week lows and notching a 4% gain so far this year.



Japanese shares led the way in Asia, with the Nikkei rallying 3.1%. South Korea stocks rose 0.7%, Australia put on 1.6% and Chinese stocks up 0.8%.



&#8220;Last week&#8217;s FOMC meeting was a hawkish surprise, but does not change our market outlook. The reflation trade experienced a sharp technically driven pullback, but we expect the trade to resume and see this move as an opportunity to add exposure to cyclical equities and commodities,&#8221; JPMorgan strategists said in a note.



Investors are keenly focused on the U.S. labour market as its performance is likely to have an influence on the Fed&#8217;s policy stance. In the immediate hours ahead, all eyes are on Fed chief Jerome Powell who appears before Congress from 1800 GMT.



The U.S. Federal Reserve sent global stock markets skidding last week by signalling it would raise interest rates at a faster pace than previously expected, and also flagged its intention to consider withdrawing its monetary stimulus moving forward. Most Fed officials moved their projections for the first rate increases from 2024 to 2023, though some saw rates moving higher next year.



The Fed&#8217;s pivot toward starting policy normalisation was driven by rapidly rising inflation, a dynamic that has kept financial markets on edge in the past few months.



Tuesday&#8217;s momentum in Asian equities was underpinned by a rally on Wall Street, with the Dow registering its strongest session in more than three months.



On Monday, Fed officials including as St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan toned down their hawkish rhetoric.



In currency markets, the dollar paused for breath after gaining sharply in the wake of the Fed&#8217;s policy surprise.



&#8220;The whole world was mega short the U.S. dollar, and that&#8217;s in good part has probably been cleaned out already, and now we take a wee breath before the next move up,&#8221; said Westpac currency analyst Imre Speizer.



Against the euro, the dollar nursed overnight losses of about 0.4% to hold steady around $1.1905. It held at 110.26 yen, and the dollar index was little changed at 91.96 after giving up about 0.5% on Monday.



Bitcoin stabilised in Asian trading and was last up 4.1% at $32,941. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies had come in for heavy selling on Monday, hurt by a tightening crackdown on trading and mining in China.



Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes last fell 3/32 in price to yield 1.4954%.



U.S. crude was flat at $73.7 per barrel and Brent edged up 0.32% to $75.1, after ring on Monday in reaction the a pause in talks to end U.S. sanctions on Iranian crude. Oil market sentiment was helped by hopes for a quick recovery in oil demand in the Unitedd States and Europe. Spot gold added 0.3% to $1,787.61 an ounce.



(Reporting by Anshuman Daga; Additional reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

asian stock market

Stocks recover from 4-week lows as focus switches back to post-pandemic growth

LONDON, June 21 (Reuters) &#8211; Global stocks dropped to a four-week low on Monday after last week&#8217;s surprise hawkish shift by the U.S. Federal Reserve reduced the allure of riskier assets, while the dollar held gains and stood near a 10-week high.



European stocks opened lower, but the pan-European STOXX 600 index erased early losses to trade flat on the day, helped by a rise in German and Italian shares.



Britain&#8217;s FTSE 100 was off 0.05%, France&#8217;s CAC 40 index fell 0.3%, and Spain&#8217;s IBEX 35 fell 0.6%.



MSCI&#8217;s All Country World Index, which tracks shares across 49 countries, was down 0.3% and traded at its lowest since May 24.



Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields fell to the lowest since Feb. 24 at 1.3540%, while those on 30-year bonds slid as low as 1.9290% for the first time since Feb. 11.



The yield curve &#8211; measured by the spread between two- and 30-year yields &#8211; was the flattest since late January as investors brought forward rate hike expectations while lowering the longer-term outlook for growth and inflation.



The U.S. dollar hovered near the 10-week high touched on Friday versus major peers, following its biggest weekly advance in more than a year.



&#8220;Last week&#8217;s dollar rally is a combination of expectations and positioning (sold dollars), a concern that the Fed is &#8220;behind the curve&#8221; (and therefore must do more and earlier than expected) and that stock markets have started to lose ground which makes the dollar strengthen as the most defensive currency,&#8221; said Filip Carlsson, junior quantitative strategist at SEB. &#8220;We still see this as a correction and not the beginning of a new trend.&#8221;



Shares of banks, energy firms and other companies that tend to be sensitive to the economy&#8217;s fluctuations have fallen sharply following the Fed&#8217;s meeting on Wednesday, when the central bank caught investors off guard by anticipating two quarter-percentage-point rate increases in 2023.



St. Louis Fed President James Bullard further fuelled the sell-off on Friday by saying the shift toward faster policy tightening was a &#8220;natural&#8221; response to economic growth and particularly inflation moving quicker than expected as the country reopens from the coronavirus pandemic.



&#8220;The Fed&#8217;s pivot to begin the tightening discussion caught most by surprise, but markets began discounting this inevitable process months ago in our view,&#8221; Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a report.



&#8220;It&#8217;s exactly what the mid-cycle transition is all about, and fits nicely with our narrative for choppier equity markets and a 10-20% correction for the broader indices this year.&#8221;



Earlier in Asia, Japan&#8217;s Nikkei led declines with a 3.6% drop and dipped below 28,000 for the first time in a month, while MSCI&#8217;s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.4%. Chinese blue chips lost 0.7%.



U.S. stock futures pointed to gains when Wall Street reopens, up 0.2% after Friday&#8217;s 1.3% slide in the S&amp;P 500 . Nasdaq futures were up 0.3%.



Several Fed officials have speaking duties this week, including Chair Jerome Powell, who testifies before Congress on Tuesday.



European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde speaks before the European Parliament on Monday.



The euro traded near its lowest against the dollar since April 6 at $1.1887 on Monday, dropping from as high as $1.21457 last Tuesday.



Sterling recovered some ground, to trade 0.3% higher at $1.3836 after hitting its lowest since April 16 on Friday.



Commodity-linked currencies have also suffered, with the Australian dollar hovering above a six-month low at $0.7495.



A stronger greenback has pressured cryptocurrencies too, with bitcoin falling 4.2% to around $34,112, while smaller rival ether lost 5.7% to around $2,115.



In commodities, gold rebounded 1.1% to $1,782.90 an ounce on Monday, looking to snap a six-day losing streak, but still remained near the lowest since early May.



Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell to its lowest since April 15, following an 8.6% drop last week, the biggest weekly fall since March 2020.



Crude oil rose for a second day, underpinned by strong demand during the summer driving season and a pause in talks to revive the Iran nuclear deal that could indicate a delay in resumption of supplies from the OPEC producer.



Brent crude futures rose 0.2% to $73.64 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 0.3% to $71.83 a barrel.



(Reporting by Ritvik Carvalho; additional reporting by Kevin Buckland in Tokyo; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Trading Board Is Showing A Crash In Stok Exchange Market

Global stocks sink to four-week low, dollar stands tall

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="523" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-04-01T061444Z_1_LYNXMPEH302CA_RTROPTP_4_NASPERS-SAFRICA-820x523.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-400645" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-04-01T061444Z_1_LYNXMPEH302CA_RTROPTP_4_NASPERS-SAFRICA-820x523.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-04-01T061444Z_1_LYNXMPEH302CA_RTROPTP_4_NASPERS-SAFRICA-300x191.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-04-01T061444Z_1_LYNXMPEH302CA_RTROPTP_4_NASPERS-SAFRICA-768x490.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-04-01T061444Z_1_LYNXMPEH302CA_RTROPTP_4_NASPERS-SAFRICA-1536x980.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-04-01T061444Z_1_LYNXMPEH302CA_RTROPTP_4_NASPERS-SAFRICA.jpg 1737w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>FILE PHOTO: Naspers logo is seen in Johannesburg, South Africa, October 9, 2019. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko</figcaption></figure>



Prosus NV , the international investment arm of South Africa’s Naspers, reported a better than expected net profit of $7.45 billion for 2021 on Monday, driven by strong returns from its big stake in Chinese software giant Tencent.



However, the company reported an operating loss of $1.04 billion at the companies it owns around the globe in online marketplaces, food delivery and educational software.



Analysts had seen net profit at $4.63 billion for the 12 months ended March 31, up from $3.66 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to Refinitiv data. Prosus owns 28.9% of Tencent and is itself controlled by Naspers, Africa’s biggest company by market capitalisation.



Of net profit, $7.1 billion came from minority investments, dominated by the contribution from Tencent, which grew profit by 33%.



Prosus said its operating loss was due to higher employee expenses, and that its businesses had performed well amid the coronavirus pandemic.



It pointed a 54% increase in revenue in companies that it consolidates, to $5.1 billion from $3.3 billion.



“During the period, we accelerated revenue growth, improved profitability and cash generation, and grew customer numbers,” the company said in a statement.



Prosusâ€™ parent Naspers reported a 24% rise in reported core headline earnings per share – the main gauge of corporate profit in South Africa – of 814 U.S. cents, up from 656 cents reported for the same period a year earlier.



Naspers currently owns 73% of Prosus. The companies are seeking shareholder support to move to a cross-holding structure that would shift the bulk of their assets to Amsterdam while leaving Naspers in control. 



(Reporting by Toby Sterling, editing by Louise Heavens)

Naspers logo is seen in Johannesburg

Naspers offshoot Prosus reports earnings boost from Tencent stake

LONDON, June 18 (Reuters) &#8211; Copper on Friday was on track for its biggest weekly fall since March 2020 after the U.S. Federal Reserve signalled that it would begin to tighten monetary policy and China said it would sell state reserves to limit prices.



The shift in tone from the Fed also pushed the U.S. dollar towards its largest weekly gain since September, making metals more expensive for buyers with other currencies.



Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was down 0.8% at $9,238 a tonne at 1033 GMT and down around 7.5% this week.



The sell-off follows a remarkable rally, with the metal used in power and construction reaching a record high of $10,747.50 in May.



&#8220;We probably have seen the peak for this year,&#8221; said ING analyst Wenyu Yao, adding that rising demand from infrastructure building and electrification would likely keep prices around current levels in the coming years.



FED: Fed officials, increasingly confident the U.S. economy is recovering fast from the pandemic-induced recession, have begun telegraphing an exit from the central bank&#8217;s extraordinarily easy monetary policy.



CHINA: Analysts at Macquarie said they expected China&#8217;s state metal sales to be relatively small &#8211; around 300,000-500,000 tonnes for aluminium &#8211; and to decrease as prices come down.



OUTLOOK: Macquarie also said it expected a deficit of copper this year, small surpluses over 2022-24 and structural undersupply from 2025. They said prices would average around $8,000-$9,000 over the next four years.



TECHNICALS: Copper was hovering around its 100-day moving average at $9,242. A move below that level could trigger more selling.



STOCKS: Copper inventories in LME-registered warehouses continued to increase, rising by 24,925 tonnes to 168,675 tonnes, the highest since April.



Stockpiles in warehouses registered with the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell by 8,440 tonnes to 172,527 tonnes in the week to Friday.



CHINA TRADE: China&#8217;s aluminium imports declined in May and its copper exports rose, customs data showed.



OTHER METALS: LME aluminium was down 0.4% at $2,390 a tonne, zinc fell 1% to $2,882.50, nickel rose 0.9% to $17,320, lead rose 0.4% to $2,138 and tin was down 1.3% at $30,200. 



(Reporting by Peter Hobson; Additional reporting by Mai Nguyen; Editing by Jan Harvey)

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Copper heads for its biggest weekly tumble since March 2020

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="416" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/106863820-1623955400717-106863820-1617662315538-gettyimages-1232133263-eastern_market_work291_040521.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-407146" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/106863820-1623955400717-106863820-1617662315538-gettyimages-1232133263-eastern_market_work291_040521.jpg 740w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/106863820-1623955400717-106863820-1617662315538-gettyimages-1232133263-eastern_market_work291_040521-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/106863820-1623955400717-106863820-1617662315538-gettyimages-1232133263-eastern_market_work291_040521-140x80.jpg 140w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><figcaption>A worker installs a copper water line under the Eastern Market Metro plaza in Washington, DC, during a renovation project on Monday, April 5, 2021. Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



The prices of commodities were falling sharply on Thursday, cutting into months of gains and weighing on equity markets, as China takes steps to cool off rising prices and the U.S. dollar strengthens.



The decline in commodities was widespread, with futures prices for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/@PA.1">palladium</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/@PL.1">platinum</a>&nbsp;falling more than 11% and 7%, respectively, along with declines of nearly 6% for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/@C.1">corn futures</a>&nbsp;and 4.8% for contracts tied to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/@HG.1">copper</a>. Oil prices were also down more than 1%.



Thursday’s move continued a slide that began earlier in the week, thanks in part to actions by Chinese regulators.



A Chinese government agency announced a plan on Wednesday to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/16/china-to-release-copper-aluminum-and-zinc-reserves-to-stabilize-prices.html">release reserves of key metals</a>, including copper and aluminum, according to Reuters. Officials in the country have also warned about speculation in financial markets in recent weeks.



“Base metals prices are melting as China’s State Council escalates its crackdown against commodity speculators and hoarders by investigating [state-owned enterprises]′ overseas positions and auditing futures firms to combat squeezed profit margins,” Daniel Ghali, TD Securities commodities strategist, said in a note. “While overseas positions are harder to police with warnings, this crackdown still has some bite.”



The Federal Reserve’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/16/fed-holds-rates-steady-but-raises-inflation-expectations-sharply-and-makes-no-mention-of-taper.html">increased projections for inflation and rate hikes</a>&nbsp;from Wednesday also could be contributing to the decline by putting upward pressure on the dollar and signaling that the central bank is closely following the rise in prices. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/.DXY">dollar index</a>, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, has risen about 1.6% since the Fed’s updated projections were released. Commodities often move inversely to the greenback since they are mostly priced in U.S. dollars globally.



“The US dollar is probably reacting to bond yields moving higher yesterday and the prospect of an earlier tapering which would slow the supply of US dollars and this has led to a sizable decline in commodity prices across the board,” Leuthold Group’s Jim Paulsen told CNBC.&nbsp;“Commodities have been a popular investment in the last year as investors have been adding some portfolio protection against inflation.”



Additionally, UBS’ Art Cashin said on CNBC’s “<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/squawk-on-the-street/">Squawk on the Street</a>” that the Chinese government tightening its monetary and fiscal policies could be creating selling pressure for commodities.



The fall comes after a strong first half of the year for commodities, fueled by increased industrial demand as the U.S. and other economies began to reopen as Covid cases declined.



That rapid increase in prices may have made some of the commodities markets ripe for a quick pullback. Evercore ISI technical analyst Rick Ross said in a note on Thursday that copper appeared to be at its most “overbought” level since 2006.



The weakness for commodities rippled into the equity market on Thursday, taking a bite out of energy and mining stocks.



“Rumors since Mar that CN’s State Reserve Bureau (SRB) will release reserves of non-ferrous metals to market came true on June 16. Coupled with Fed’s rate decision on Jun 17 (post strong May PPI) sent most new energy material stocks plummeting, down 5-10% overnight,” investment firm Jefferies said in a note to clients.



Shares of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/COPX">Global X Copper Miners ETF</a>&nbsp;were down more than 7% in midday trading, while&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/AA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alcoa</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/X" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.S. Steel</a>&nbsp;shed 6.5% and 8%, respectively.



The commodities market had already seen unusual volatility in 2021 before the most recent sell-off, with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/19/lumber-futures-fall-for-an-eighth-straight-day-as-speculation-that-took-prices-to-a-record-unwinds.html">lumber</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/25/corn-futures-drop-6percent-on-larger-supply-in-latest-speculative-unraveling-in-the-commodities-markets.html">corn</a>&nbsp;being two examples of markets where prices had spiked to historic levels before losing steam.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/@LB.1">Lumber futures</a>, which have been sliding for more than a month, slipped an additional 1.8% on Thursday.



— CNBC’s Michael Bloom and Maggie Fitzgerald contributed to this report.

106863820-1623955400717-106863820-1617662315538-gettyimages-1232133263-eastern_market_work291_040521

Commodities from copper to corn tumble on China crackdown, rising dollar

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/firstrand-1-820x366.png" alt="" class="wp-image-407140" width="419" height="187" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/firstrand-1-820x366.png 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/firstrand-1-300x134.png 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/firstrand-1-140x63.png 140w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/firstrand-1-768x343.png 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/firstrand-1-1536x686.png 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/firstrand-1.png 1680w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 419px) 100vw, 419px" /><figcaption>FirstRand Bank (South Africa) Image via Wikipedia</figcaption></figure>



FirstRand has found offering banking to cash-only businesses in South African townships trickier than expected, but the firms involved are also far bigger than it realised.



Africa&#8217;s biggest lender by market capitalisation announced the takeover of financial technology firm Selpal in March, with the aim of capturing a greater slice of the township economy.



Millions of people live in townships, which were areas designated for non-whites under apartheid and are often satellites of South Africa&#8217;s major cities.



Wealthy residents, golf courses and shopping malls are also now a feature of the country&#8217;s most populous township, Soweto, near Johannesburg, as well as a large poorer population living hand-to-mouth in often cramped conditions.



Townships are also home to millions of firms from tiny informal shops to big wholesalers, historically ignored by major banks in South Africa, which make up a sizeable untapped market.



After almost three years, FirstRand has found that the scale of the unbanked businesses is much larger than it thought, Jesse Weinberg, head of the small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) customer segment at FirstRand&#8217;s retail division FNB, said.



It has been giving firms Selpal devices and software, which allow customers to pay via card and enable the firms to buy from suppliers, with a view to using the data collected to later offer them financial services such as loans for the first time.



Although it had not met its original goal of capturing 2,500 wholesalers by 2022, Weinberg said FirstRand had surpassed this figure for the total of firms signed on. The bank has also changed its definition of wholesaler and now estimates there are only 20-30 of these in an average township.



It also found far bigger cash-only wholesalers than anticipated, with some achieving turnover as high as 40 million rand ($2.84 million) a month, Weinberg said, a figure that firms at the higher end of its SME category only do annually.



Even very small township shops typically turn over 2 million rand a year, he said, although their margins are very thin.



&#8220;That would suddenly put that customer into quite a significant bracket, it&#8217;s a decent size of business,&#8221; he said.



Early lending pilots had also entailed surprises.



One pilot testing a product that worked in a similar to way to trade credit, which allows businesses to pay suppliers for stock or services later, saw some business owners turn it down.



Those that did take part became so nervous about their negative account balance that in some cases they began avoiding interaction with Selpal agents altogether.



&#8220;It caused a bit of confusion,&#8221; Weinberg said, adding the bank would re-introduce credit pilots at a later stage. ($1 = 14.0631 rand) (Reporting by Emma Rumney; Editing by Alexander Smith)

firstrand

Scale of cash economy in South African townships stuns FirstRand

SHANGHAI, June 18 (Reuters) &#8211; Asian shares extended losses for the week, U.S. Treasury yields climbed and the greenback hovered near two-month highs on Friday as investors digested comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve projecting rate hikes in 2023.



While the Fed messaging indicated no clear end to supportive policy measures such as bond buying, signals of faster-than-expected rate hikes indicated its concern about inflation as the U.S. economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.



&#8220;What is pretty obvious is that the inflation genie is starting to sneak out of the bottle, and that will be a major driver of interest rates in the short to medium term,&#8221; said James McGlew, executive director of corporate stockbroking at Argonaut in Perth.



MSCI&#8217;s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gave up early gains to dip 0.22%, extending declines into a fifth session.



Chinese blue-chip A shares fell 0.36% and Taiwan shares lost 0.22%, but Hong Kong&#8217;s Hang Seng index rose 0.49% and Seoul&#8217;s KOSPI was up 0.13%.



Japan&#8217;s Nikkei was flat.



Gold prices, which plunged following the Fed comments on Wednesday, edged higher but were still set for their worst week since March 2020. Spot gold was last up 0.57% at $1,783.45 per ounce.



Adding to indications of a continued rebound in the world&#8217;s largest economy, new U.S. data on Thursday showed growing factory activity and an easing in layoffs despite an unexpected rise in weekly jobless claims.



Hopes for a strong U.S. recovery pushed technology stocks higher on Thursday, lifting the Nasdaq Composite up 0.87%. But worries about inflation and higher rates weighed on the broader market, with the S&amp;P 500 edging down 0.04%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.62%.



&#8220;The Fed for a long time was sending a very strong signal that they were prioritising the labour market, and they want this broad, inclusive recovery and healing of the labour market and they&#8217;re going to run the economy red-hot to get there,&#8221; said Richard Franulovich, head of FX strategy at Westpac.



&#8220;Now … (inflation) is more of a priority. So that&#8217;s the big wake-up call for markets. A very big wake up call.&#8221;



Higher expectations of inflation continued to lift long-dated U.S. Treasury yields. Benchmark 10-year notes yielded 1.5141%, up from a close of 1.511% on Thursday.



The 30-year bond last yielded 2.0988%.



The dollar index climbed 0.09% to 91.958, not far off Thursday&#8217;s more than two-month peak of 92.010 following the Fed meeting. The dollar pulled back against the yen to 110.19 , and the euro softened 0.08% to 1.1900.



Oil prices took a hit from the strong dollar as concerns over demand and new Iranian supply also weighed.



Global benchmark Brent crude was down 0.99% at $72.36 a barrel after settling at its highest price since April 2019 on Wednesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude, which touched its highest level since October 2018 on Wednesday, shed 0.86% to $70.43.



(Reporting by Andrew Galbraith; Additional reporting by Tom Westbrook in Singapore Editing by Christopher Cushing and Edwina Gibbs)

Macro view of a screen of trading terminal with abstract financial graph and digits. Trading and forex concept. 3D Rendering

Asian shares slip, deepen weekly loss after hawkish Fed

LONDON, June 17 (Reuters) &#8211; World equities were heading for their biggest fall in weeks on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve startled investors by signalling it might raise interest rates at a much faster pace than assumed, sending bond yields and the dollar sharply higher.



The dollar scored a 2-month high hot on the heels of its strongest rise in 15 months, Wall Street looked set for a bumpy restart and 10-year U.S. Treasury yields &#8211; a key driver of global borrowing costs- consolidated their biggest rise since early March.



Europe&#8217;s STOXX 600 looked set to snap a nine-day winning streak &#8211; its longest since 2017 &#8211; with a 0.3% dip. Tokyo had closed down nearly 1%, while Wall Street futures pointed to a modest 0.4% drop.



The Fed forecasts showed 13 of the 18 person policy board saw rates rising in 2023 versus only six previously, while seven tipped a first move in 2022.



&#8220;The most hawkish development was the dot plot now showing the 2023 median dot pricing in 2 rate hikes, compared to 0 hikes last meeting,&#8221; said Deutsche Bank macro strategist Jim Reid.



While these &#8220;dot plots&#8221; are not commitments and have a poor track record of predicting rates, the sudden shift was a shock.



The Fed also signalled it would now be considering whether to taper its $120 billion-a-month asset purchase programme meeting by meeting, and downgraded the risk from the pandemic given progress with vaccinations.



JPMorgan analysts noted Fed Chair Jerome Powell had not been as aggressive in his media conference. He had described it as a &#8220;talking about talking about meeting,&#8221; a reference to his protestations earlier this year that the Fed was not even &#8220;talking about talking about&#8221; tighter policy.



&#8220;It appears that faster progress toward reopening and higher inflation surprises revealed some hawks on the FOMC, but we suspect that leadership is predominantly anchored at zero or one hike in 2023,&#8221; JPMorgan said, sticking with a prediction for tapering to start early next year.



Markets moved quickly to price in the risk of earlier action and Fed fund futures shifted to imply a first hike by the end of 2022. Yields on 10-year bonds shot up almost nine basis points overnight to as high as 1.57%.



Bond giant Pimco&#8217;s U.S. economists said the tapering plan might now be announced as soon September, and that it would take roughly 6-9 months to wind down the stimulus.



&#8220;The more hawkish changes to FOMC participants’ rate path expectations came despite little change in the 2023 unemployment rate and inflation forecasts,&#8221; Pimco said, &#8220;This suggests less tolerance for an inflation overshoot than previously thought.&#8221;



ALL RISE



The dollar also broke out of recent tight ranges. It had risen 0.9% on Wednesday against a basket of currencies for its biggest gain since March last year and added another 0.7% in Europe to set a two-month high at 91.819.



Powell&#8217;s hawkish turn prompted both Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank to abandon their calls that the U.S. currency would weaken against the euro, although others were not so sure.



Agnès Belaisch, Chief European Strategist of the Barings Investment Institute, said the fact that the Fed was not going to lift rates any time soon was good for world growth and that FX markets would therefore get over Wednesday&#8217;s shift.



&#8220;He (Powell) said they wouldn&#8217;t do anything for the next two years, so it&#8217;s a shock but wrapped in good news,&#8221; Belaisch said. &#8220;I think he gave the markets the all-clear to rally.&#8221;



Hans Peterson global head of asset allocation at SEB investment management added: &#8220;In the small print it is interesting that they have moved rate hikes closer, but they are still far, far away.&#8221;



&#8220;I think it confirms our bullish view of the world.&#8221;



The euro slipped back towards $1.1930 from just over $1.20 in the Asian session and the dollar was just shy of its 2021 high against the yen, last buying 110.72 yen.



The kiwi dollar clawed back about half of its overnight losses after New Zealand&#8217;s first-quarter growth figures blew past forecasts, while the Aussie dollar and British pound weakened along with emerging market currencies.



Also for currency markets, Turkey&#8217;s central bank kept its interest rates at 19%, but seemed to be inching towards a cut which kept the lira on edge.



Norway&#8217;s central bank said it was likely to hike its zero percent interest rates in September, but it didn&#8217;t stop the crown from falling.



Elsewhere, the rise in bond yields and the dollar were a double blow for non-yielding gold, which was down at $1,810 an ounce after sliding 2.5% overnight.



Oil prices were insulated by the prospect of stronger world demand and still tight supply, with Brent reaching its highest since April 2019 before running into profit taking and headwinds from the sharply higher dollar.



Brent was last off 0.3% at $74.15 a barrel, while U.S. crude lost 0.2% to trade at $71.98.



(Additional reporting by Tom Westbrook in Singapore; Editing by David Evans and Mark Potter)

Hawkish Fed fuels dollar, leaves stocks and bonds bruised

The underinvestment in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/@HG.1">copper</a>&nbsp;over the past decade is causing supply problems now, at a time when prices have shot up and green initiatives create higher demand for the metal, says commodity analyst Reid I’Anson of market intelligence firm Kpler.



“A number of producers in this market has grown extremely conservative over the past decade. This has really caused underinvestment to kind of percolate through the supply chain, and obviously now that’s creating problems,” I’Anson told CNBC on Wednesday.



From electronics to home construction, copper is used extensively in manufacturing and demand for the metal is seen as an economic bellwether. Earlier this year, copper prices&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/29/copper-hits-a-decade-high-traders-on-possible-economic-effect.html">hit their highest level in a decade</a>. So far this year, copper prices have risen about 21%.



“So a lot of these firms are now realizing that prices are higher and they want to take advantage, but the lead time to get new mines online is going to take quite a long time,”&nbsp;he said.



Looking ahead, the demand for copper is only going to pick up. One key factor is the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/05/electric-vehicles-renewables-will-need-rise-in-mineral-supply-iea.html">drive toward sustainability</a> as <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/24/coronavirus-why-the-pandemic-could-spark-a-copper-rally.html">governments spend more on green initiatives</a>, said I’Anson.



Copper is heavily used in the development of electric vehicles, their infrastructure, as well as in renewable power generation.



“I think that the metal will do quite well, given the fact that you’re gonna have a lot of westernized economies &#8230; willing to spend a lot of money to make sure that they are ‘greening their economy’ and that’s going to require a lot of copper input &#8230; moving forward,” I’Anson said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chile-instability-a-risk-to-copper">Chile instability a risk to copper</h2>



Political instability in Chile, where much of the world’s copper is mined, will also contribute to the problem,&nbsp;said I’Anson.



Last month, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/chile-ruling-coalition-heading-disappointment-constitutional-delegates-vote-2021-05-17/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">country’s ruling coalition unexpectedly failed</a>&nbsp;to garner the number of seats needed to draft a new constitution. Last year, Chileans voted to rewrite the country’s constitution after mass protests about inequality in 2019.



“You also have some uncertainty around Covid, which is making new investments slower than what was originally expected, say, six to 12 months ago,” said I’Anson. “So Chile, which is a key copper producer, is struggling to set a timeline for large investments that need to take place to meet the supply shortfall that is already apparent within this market now.”

copper-4318679_960_720

Copper supply shortfall could linger as green initiatives spur demand, analyst says

June 17 (Reuters) &#8211; An index of emerging market currencies headed for its worst day in over a year on Thursday, slammed by a rising dollar after the U.S. Federal Reserve brought forward its policy tightening timeline.



The Fed said it expects to start tightening in 2023, a year earlier than previously forecast, acknowledging in a way that the inflation could be lasting rather than transitory.



Debt spreads on the EM bond index tightened to 326 basis points – levels last seen in February 2020, while MSCI&#8217;s index of EM currencies dropped 0.7%, its biggest daily decline since the pandemic roiled markets in March 2020.



Analysts predicted winners and losers within emerging markets from the Fed policy shift.



&#8220;Asian markets are less exposed than other EM regions to Fed policy changes and to U.S. bond yield gyrations,&#8221; TD Securities&#8217; strategist Mitul Kotecha said.



Because higher U.S. interest rates tend to dull the appeal of emerging market assets, investors will want to see whether central banks in the developing world will act to preserve their own currencies&#8217; yield premium against the dollar.



Indonesia&#8217;s rupiah sank 0.7% earlier in the day as the central bank held rates, while Brazil&#8217;s real is likely to enjoy some support after Wednesday&#8217;s 75 basis-point interest rate hike.



Eyes are now on Turkey where President Tayyip Erdogan&#8217;s demands for lower interest rates, despite 17% inflation, have consistently undermined the lira.



The lira fell to around 8.6 to the dollar as the central bank is seen postponing any cuts to the fourth 2021 quarter, leaving the key interest rate at 19% on Thursday.



Russia&#8217;s rouble firmed 0.2% however, steadying after a four-session losing streak before a meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden on Wednesday.



The two leaders agreed to begin cybersecurity and arms control talks at a summit that highlighted their discord on those issues, human rights and Ukraine.



On equity markets, MSCI&#8217;s emerging stock index slumped 0.6% to a three-week low, though a positive end for Chinese stocks, capped index losses.



For GRAPHIC on emerging market FX performance in 2021, see <a href="http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh">http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh</a> 



For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging index performance in 2021, see <a href="https://tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX">https://tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX</a>



(Reporting by Susan Mathew in Bengaluru; Editing by Sujata Rao and Shailesh Kuber)

Stock market report. 3d illustration

Fed hammer weighs heavy on EM; Turkey cenbank eyed

June 15 (Reuters) &#8211; Chinese blue-chip shares, reopening after a holiday, posted their biggest one-day drop in a month on Tuesday following fierce G7 criticism of Beijing, while broader emerging market equities looked set to snap a three-day streak of gains.



Geopolitics weighed too on Turkish assets, with the lira losing 1% after an Ankara-Washington meeting failed to yield breakthroughs. Analysts said emerging market currencies were generally jittery before the U.S. Federal Reserve&#8217;s two-day meeting.



MSCI&#8217;s Asia-heavy index of EM equities was flat to weaker on the day. While most other bourses in Asian rose between 0.1% to 0.9%, these were countered by losses of 0.7% to 1.1% on mainland China and Hong Kong stocks.



&#8220;It is a combination of nervousness ahead of the Fed and the G7 signaling that it is standing together to stand up to China,&#8221; said Jakob Christensen, chief analyst at Danske Bank in Copenhagen.



The Group of Seven countries criticised China over human rights, Hong Kong&#8217;s autonomy and the origin of the coronavirus pandemic. Beijing denounced the statement as a gross interference in the country&#8217;s internal affairs.



Any action against China will spill over into Asian economies and markets, investors fear, with memories still fresh of the tit-for-tat trade wars under Donald Trump&#8217;s administration.



Strained ties with Washington have also weighed on Turkish markets, with Ankara&#8217;s planned purchase of NATO-incompatible Russian S-400 defence systems a particular sticking point.



President Tayyip Erdogan&#8217;s meeting with his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, did not deliver much progress on points of conflict, pushing the lira back towards record lows hit against the dollar earlier this month.



Christensen said the summit with Biden was possibly less important for the lira than the Fed, citing fears of stimulus tapering &#8220;which could affect U.S. yields and the lira is super sensitive towards it&#8221;.



Focus will now turn to Biden&#8217;s Wednesday meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin but despite severely frayed ties between the countries, the rouble firmed 0.3% on the day, tracking oil prices higher.



Western sanctions imposed so far on Russia have been limited while the currency has also been supported by a hawkish central bank.



The costs on insuring against default for Turkey and Russia are below 2020 peaks, but a second wave of the pandemic and rising geopolitical tensions have seen them tick up slightly this year.



Emerging currencies broadly are being supported by a generally weak dollar but investors are waiting to see if the U.S. Federal Reserve will on Wednesday signal changes in its accommodative policy stance &#8212; a more hawkish bent could send investors fleeing from riskier emerging market assets. 



For GRAPHIC on emerging market FX performance in 2021, see <a href="http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh">http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh</a> 



For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging index performance in 2021, see <a href="https://tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX">https://tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX</a>



(Reporting by Susan Mathew in Bengaluru; Editing by Edmund Blair)

Turkey Lira, photo via Flickr

China shares drag on tensions with the West; Lira drops 1%

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Stock-value-rising-and-falling-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-404443" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Stock-value-rising-and-falling-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Stock-value-rising-and-falling-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Stock-value-rising-and-falling-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Stock-value-rising-and-falling.jpg 1254w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Macro view of a screen of trading terminal with abstract financial graph and digits. Photo via flickr</figcaption></figure>



&nbsp;World stocks hit yet another record high on Tuesday, with European stocks poised for their longest winning streak since 2019 as investors bet likely &#8220;transitory&#8221; inflation pressures will stay the U.S. Federal Reserve&#8217;s hand from signalling a shift in policy settings.



A majority of investors surveyed by BofA said inflation was transitory, a marked change from March, when worries about more sustained price rises had sent U.S. 10-year Treasury yields surging to nearly 1.8%. With the yield now pinned below 1.5%, BofA expects the Fed to signal a dial back in stimulus by September.



Abating worries about inflation helped U.S. and European shares scale new highs, with the pan-regional STOXX 600 rising 0.4%, its eighth straight day of gains. U.S. stock futures were up 0.1%.



&#8220;Several factors that have pushed up inflation are likely to fade in the coming months,&#8221; said Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth.



&#8220;We don’t expect inflation to prompt a premature tightening of monetary policy or to derail the equity rally,&#8221; Haefele added.



The two-day Fed meeting starts on Tuesday, with a final statement published after the meeting closes on Wednesday.



Traders around the world are looking for any hints about whether and when the Fed plans to taper its bond buying programme as the U.S. economy bounces back from the pandemic fallout.



Nearly 60% of economists in a Reuters poll expect a taper announcement will come in the next quarter, despite a patchy recovery in the job market.



&#8220;Whilst no immediate changes in monetary policy are anticipated, an increase in the share of FOMC members who think rates will need to increase in 2023 is expected,&#8221; analysts at ANZ wrote in a note to clients.



&#8220;If three more members pencil in rate rises for 2023, that would tip the majority in favour of moving rates relatively soon,&#8221; they said.



In Asia, the MSCI&#8217;s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan trading flat. Japan&#8217;s Nikkei rose 1% and the Australian benchmark traded up 0.93%, but Chinese blue chips fell 1.1%.



China&#8217;s markets were closed on Monday for a holiday, meaning this was their first response to a joint statement by the Group of Seven leaders that had scolded Beijing over a range of issues which China called a gross interference in the country&#8217;s internal affairs.



STRONG DOLLAR



In currency markets, the dollar held onto its gains against major currencies. The dollar index was at 90.414, not far off the top of its recent range.



Retail sales and industrial production data due later on Tuesday could spark some modest dollar volatility, wrote analysts at CBA in a research note.



In the face of the strong dollar, spot gold was down slightly at $1,862.21 per ounce.



Benchmark 10-year yields were 1.4838%, little changed from Monday, when they rebounded from Friday&#8217;s three-month low.



As for commodities, U.S. crude ticked up 0.38% to $71.15 a barrel. Brent crude rose to $73.15 per barrel as talks dragged on over the United States rejoining a nuclear agreement with Tehran suggesting any surge in supply from Iran is some time away.



Even bitcoin was fairly quiet, fluctuating a little above $40,000. It rose on Sunday and Monday after Elon Musk said Tesla could resume accepting payment in the world&#8217;s largest cryptocurrency at some point in the future.



(Reporting by Thyagaraju Adinarayan in London and Alun John in Hong Kong; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa, Lincoln Feast and Kim Coghill)

Shares in record-setting spree as Fed meeting looms

HONG KONG, June 15 (Reuters) &#8211; Asian shares had a mixed day on Tuesday and the dollar sat near multi-week highs ahead of a much-anticipated Federal Reserve policy meeting, which investors are watching for hints of any change to the U.S. monetary policy outlook.



Japan&#8217;s Nikkei rose 1.05% and the Australian benchmark, traded up 0.93%, but Chinese blue chips fell 0.97%.



This left MSCI&#8217;s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan trading flat.



China&#8217;s markets were closed on Monday for a holiday, meaning this was their first response to a joint statement by the Group of Seven leaders that had scolded Beijing over a range of issues which China called a gross interference in the country&#8217;s internal affairs.



However, futures indicated European and U.S. markets were set to open higher. U.S. stock futures rose 0.16%, Euro Stoxx 50 futures were up 0.39% and FTSE futures were up 0.31%.



&#8220;We are still getting markets responding positively to the lower volatility in the bond markets and lower yields, and a sense that inflation will be reasonably temporary so the Fed won&#8217;t have to slam the breaks on,&#8221; said Kyle Rodda, market analyst at brokerage IG.



&#8220;I suspect in the next 24-48 hours we&#8217;ll see a lot of chop, first on the upside, then a little correction as the market positions itself, and then we&#8217;re off to the races if we get the green light from the Fed Thursday morning,&#8221; Rodda added.



The two-day meeting starts on Tuesday, with a final statement published after the meeting closes on Wednesday.



Traders around the world are looking for any hints about whether and when the Fed plans to taper its bond buying programme, amid concerns from some quarters about inflation as the U.S. economy bounces back from the pandemic fallout.



&#8220;Now domestic Chinese investors are increasingly aware of the global picture. Ten years ago they paid no attention to the Fed chair&#8217;s rhetoric, but today it is really a key issue,&#8221; said Qi Wang CEO of asset manager MegaTrust Investment (HK).



Nearly 60% of economists in a Reuters poll expect a taper announcement will come in the next quarter, despite a patchy recovery in the job market.



&#8220;Whilst no immediate changes in monetary policy are anticipated, an increase in the share of FOMC members who think rates will need to increase in 2023 is expected,&#8221; analysts at ANZ wrote in a note to clients.



&#8220;If three more members pencil in rate rises for 2023, that would tip the majority in favour of moving rates relatively soon,&#8221; they said.



STRONG DOLLAR



In currency markets, the dollar was quiet holding onto its gains against major currencies. The dollar index was at 90.475, not far off the top of its recent range.



Retail sales and industrial production data due later on Tuesday could spark some modest USD volatility, wrote analysts at CBA in a research note.



In the face of the strong dollar, spot gold was down slightly at $1,862.21 per ounce.



Benchmark 10-year yields were 1.4838%, little changed from Monday, when they rebounded from Friday&#8217;s three-month low.



As for commodities, U.S. crude ticked up 0.38% to $71.15 a barrel. Brent crude rose to $73.15 per barrel as talks dragged on over the United States rejoining a nuclear agreement with Tehran suggesting any surge in supply from Iran is some time away.



Even bitcoin was fairly quiet, fluctuating a little above $40,000. It rose on Sunday and Monday after Elon Musk said Tesla could resume accepting payment in the world&#8217;s largest cryptocurrency at some point in the future.



(Reporting by Alun John in Hong Kong; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa and Lincoln Feast.)

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Naspers offshoot Prosus reports earnings boost from Tencent stake

Copper heads for its biggest weekly tumble since March 2020

Commodities from copper to corn tumble on China crackdown, rising dollar

Scale of cash economy in South African townships stuns FirstRand

Asian shares slip, deepen weekly loss after hawkish Fed

Hawkish Fed fuels dollar, leaves stocks and bonds bruised

Copper supply shortfall could linger as green initiatives spur demand, analyst says

Fed hammer weighs heavy on EM; Turkey cenbank eyed

China shares drag on tensions with the West; Lira drops 1%

Shares in record-setting spree as Fed meeting looms

Asian shares mixed, dollar strong as investors eye Fed meeting

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Economy

IMF secures sufficient pledges to provide comprehensive debt relief to Sudan

Brent rises above $75 a barrel on strong demand outlook

Five emerging markets to benefit most from IMF’s SDR move -S&P

Stocks, currencies look to Powell after hawkish remarks rattled markets

Stocks recover from 4-week lows as focus switches back to post-pandemic growth

Global stocks sink to four-week low, dollar stands tall

Naspers offshoot Prosus reports earnings boost from Tencent stake

Copper heads for its biggest weekly tumble since March 2020

Commodities from copper to corn tumble on China crackdown, rising dollar

Scale of cash economy in South African townships stuns FirstRand

Asian shares slip, deepen weekly loss after hawkish Fed

Hawkish Fed fuels dollar, leaves stocks and bonds bruised

Copper supply shortfall could linger as green initiatives spur demand, analyst says

Fed hammer weighs heavy on EM; Turkey cenbank eyed

China shares drag on tensions with the West; Lira drops 1%

Shares in record-setting spree as Fed meeting looms

Asian shares mixed, dollar strong as investors eye Fed meeting

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