Thread: Forex News from InstaForex

UK House Prices Rise 2.0% In February





The average asking price for a house in the United Kingdom was up 2.0 percent on month in February, the latest survey from property tracking website Rightmove showed on Monday.


That was roughly in line with estimates, and up from 0.4 percent in January.


On a yearly basis, house prices were up 2.3 percent - shy of forecasts for 2.8 percent and down from 3.2 percent in the previous month.


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CNPC Purchases Stake in $22 Billion Oil Venture from Abu Dhabi





China National Petroleum Corp. purchased a stake in Abu Dhabi's biggest oil concession as the emirate, which holds six percent of global crude reserves, resorts to Asia for investment in order to increase output capacity. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. granted CNPC an eight percent stake in its onshore venture in exchange for a $1.8 billion signing bonus, according to Adnoc.


CNPC will join the Abu Dhabi firm for the Onshore Petroleum Operations, or ADCO. Other companies like BP and Total respectively hold ten percent stakes in the venture, while South Korea's Energy Corp. owns three percent and Inpex Corp. of Japan holds five percent. Abu Dhabi is planning to keep a 60 percent stake in ADCO and is looking for an investor for the remaining four percent, according to a statement from Adnoc.


Abu Dhabi intends to raise production capacity to 3.5 million barrels per day by 2018. ADCO produces nearly half of Abu Dhabi's approximately three million barrels of daily crude output.


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Announcement: Moody's: Singapore Banks' Under Cost and Net Interest Margin Pressures, But Should Subside in 2017





Moody's Investors Service says that the full year and Q4 2016 (October-December 2016) financial results of the three largest banks in Singapore by assets reveal a further decline in profitability and mixed asset quality performance, but pressure on credit costs and net interest margins (NIMs) should subside in 2017, providing support to profitability.


"The continued asset quality challenges at DBS Bank Ltd. (DBS, Aa1/Aa1 stable, a1) and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd (OCBC, Aa1/Aa1 stable, a1) are in line with our expectations, and were mainly driven by their exposures to the embattled oil & gas service industry," says Eugene Tarzimanov, a Moody's Vice President and Senior Credit Officer.


"By contrast, asset performance at United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB, Aa1/Aa1 stable, a1) has improved, and was better than we had expected, driven by fewer new nonperforming loans (NPLs) related to the oil & gas industry, as well as recoveries and write-offs," adds Tarzimanov.


Moody's conclusions were contained in a just-released report on banks in Singapore, "Banks - Singapore: Full Year and Q4 2016 Results Reflect Mixed Asset Quality and Lower Profitability".


Moreover, return on assets continued to decline for the three banks in 2016, due to elevated credit costs and weaker revenue growth, with revenue pressured by NIM compression. The banks' asset quality and profitability challenges were key drivers behind our downgrade of their baseline credit assessments in December 2016.


"Despite these challenges, the three banks' loss-absorption buffers have remained robust; specifically, they recorded higher fully loaded Common Equity Tier 1 ratios (CET1) during 2016 — due to slow growth in risk-weighted assets (RWAs) — which provide support to their very high credit ratings," says Tarzimanov.


While we expect asset quality challenges posed by the troubled oil & gas service companies to persist over the next few quarters, we note that new non-performing asset formation rates fell in Q4 2016 from their peaks in Q2 2016, signaling a potential stabilization in asset quality metrics for the banks in 2017.


Furthermore, even if oil market conditions deteriorate, we see the banks as more resilient in coping with such a situation, because many weak firms in the oil and gas service industry have either already defaulted, or restructured their liabilities. The banks had also mostly trimmed their exposure to oil & gas service companies during 2016, and related loans now represent only 2% of their total loans.


Outside their oil & gas exposure, the quality of the banks' remaining loan portfolio, including their regional exposures, was fairly stable in 2016.


As for events overseas that will affect the banks, we expect around three interest rate increases by the US Federal Reserve Board in 2017. This development will have a pass-through effect on interest rates in Singapore through the currency channel. According to the banks in Singapore, the pass-through effect could be in the 40%-60% range.


Capital strengthening measures — such as the application of scrip dividend schemes where shareholders receive shares instead of cash dividends — will also help the banks maintain their current capital levels. We note that DBS and UOB will offer scrip dividends for 2016.


Moreover, the banks have indicated that the incremental increase to RWAs resulting from the impending changes to Basel regulatory rules (Basel 3.5) would be fairly small. DBS and OCBC have indicated that the changes will result in an increase in RWAs of around 2%-4%, while UOB has put the impact at less than 1%.


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Toshiba Eyes $8.8 Billion in Chip Unit Stake Deal





Toshiba Corp. is seeking to gain a minimum of 1 trillion yen or $8.8 billion from the sale of a majority share in its memory chip business and will attempt to finish the deal by March 2018, according to sources.


The sale comes as the Japanese conglomerate issued a warning of a $6.3 billion writedown that will hit its U.S. nuclear business earlier this month. As it looks for a buffer against any fresh financial setbacks, Toshiba states it is now ready to put up for sale a majority stake or even all of the NAND memory unit.


The deal is seen to result in Toshiba ceding is majority hold over the unit which could have a market valuation as high as 2 trillion yen. Sources said the company wants to carefully consider its options and negotiate the best price before mapping a final timetable, although it is aiming to reach a deal before the end of the next financial year.


The company has not yet finalized the size of the stake to be put up for sale and is centering its focus on the total amount that can be raised. The person privy to the matter added that Toshiba would like to maintaining a one-third holding that would allow it a certain position of control over the business.


Toshiba's shares were up 2% in morning trade.


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Fxwirepro: Eur/krw Hovers Around Key Support at 1,200 Mark, sustained Close Below Targets 1,184





EUR/KRW is currently trading around 1,201 mark.


Pair made intraday high at 1,202 and low at 1,199 levels.


Intraday bias remains neutral till the time pair holds key support at 1,200 mark.


A daily close below 1,200 will drag the parity down towards key supports around 1,184, 1,178 and 1,163 marks respectively.


Alternatively, a sustained close above 1,200 will take the parity higher towards key resistances around 1,209, 1,221, 1,233, 1,242, 1,252, 1,268, 1,272, 1,280, 1,287 and 1,304 marks respectively.


Seoul shares open up 0.17 pct at 2106.42.


We prefer to take short position in EUR/KRW only below 1,200, stop loss at 1,210 and target of 1,190/1,184.


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Gold Steady as Investors Await for Clues on U.S. Rate Hikes





Gold prices were steady on the latest weaker-than-expected U.S. data, after dropping one percent on restored expectations of U.S. interest rate hikes in March that pushed the dollar higher. Spot gold was stable at $1,236 per ounce while U.S. gold futures settled 0.1 percent lower at $1,237.


Traders are currently eyeing the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's Jan. 30-Feb. 1 meeting. President Donald Trump's address to the Congress on Feb. 28, will also be eyed as analysts and traders hope that it will provide more details on infrastructure spending and tax cuts. "Gold is capped by the likelihood that U.S. monetary policy will be tighter at some stage, potentially in March," according to Societe Generale analyst Robin Bhar. Switzerland's gold exports reached a 10-month low in January, as stated in the data from the Swiss customs bureau, due to declines in shipments to China and Hong Kong.


In other metals, silver dropped 0.4 percent to $17.94 per ounce. Platinum shed 0.3 percent to $997.95 while palladium climbed 0.6 percent to $776.75.


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Fxwirepro: Aussie falls Against Major Peers As Australia’s Private Capital Expenditure Data Fails to Meet Expectations





AUD/NZD is currently trading around 1.0673 marks.


Pair made intraday high at 1.0721 and low at 1.0673 marks.


Intraday bias remains bearish till the time pair holds immediate resistance at 1.0748 marks.


A daily close below 1.0710 will take the parity down towards key supports around 1.0648, 1.0594, 1.0552, 1.0516, 1.0460, 1.0412, 1.0370, 1.0326, 1.0237, 1.0184, 1.0109 and 1.0053 marks respectively.


On the other side, a sustained close above 1.0710 will drag the parity higher towards key resistances at 1.0735/1.0823/1.0976 (January 2016 high) /1.1062 (30D EMA) levels respectively.


Australia’s Q4 capital expenditure increases to -2.1 % (forecast -0.4 %) vs previous -3.3 % (revised from -4 %).


Australia’s Q4 building capex decreases to -4.1 % vs previous -3.6 % (revised from -5.7 %).


Australia’s Q4 plant/machinery capex increases to 0.4 % vs previous -3 % (revised from -1.9 %).


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Dollar Recovers After Initial Fed Minutes Jolt





The dollar rebounded from overnight lows and steadied, as the market digested the minutes of the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting, which held the possibility of a March rate hike in play. The minutes of the Fed's Jan. 31-Feb. 1 meeting noted several policy makers saying that it was appropriate to hike interest rates again “fairly soon”, given that the jobs and inflation data come in line with expectations.


Dollar bulls were disappointed as they were hoping for a more hawkish tone from Fed Chair Janet Yellen. The greenback also weakened as policymakers brought up the downside economic consequences of a firmer dollar. The dollar index versus a basket of six major currencies climbed from overnight losses and was 0.15 percent higher at 101.380. The greenback dropped to a low of 112.905 yen overnight in an automatic response to the Fed minutes meeting but eventually pulled back to 113,420 for a gain of 0.1 percent.


The euro edged down 0.1 percent at $1.0548, as it retreated from a 1-½ month low of $1.094 the previous day. Sterling was flat at $1.2450 after slipping the day earlier as latest data showed that the UK business investment declined during the fourth quarter of 2016.


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Singapore Industrial Production On Tap For Friday





Singapore will on Friday release January figures for industrial production, highlighting a light day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.


Output is expected to gain 2.8 percent on month and 7.5 percent on year after spiking 6.4 percent on month and 21.3 percent on year in December.


Taiwan will see January figures for unemployment, with the jobless rate expected to ease to 3.8 percent from 3.82 percent in December.


News are provided byInstaForex.

Trump Uncertainty Drives Bitcoin to Historic High





Bitcoin scaled a historic high as investors' risk aversion and impetus to hedge was triggered by the global uncertainty linked to President Donald Trump's policies and due to speculations that the new administration will ease regulations that governing the cryptocurrency.


The digital currency surged 3.1 percent and ended at $1,164.10 in New York trading, beating the record high of $1,137 notched in November 2013.


Prices of the e-currency has been volatile in the previous weeks. It nosedived as low as $789 earlier on January as Chinese regulators imposed stricter management and regulation of the domestic bitcoin exchanges, where global majority of bitcoin trading occurs. It has now remained above the $1,000 level for its longest-ever period, CoinDesk stated.


The latest rally was prompted by the political uncertainty stemming from President Trump's remarks and directives, analysts said. They added that the surge may be due to some investors driving digital currency prices up on hopes that the administration will loosen financial-industry rules and in turn make bitcoin more flexible to utilize.


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