Asian Stocks Fall After Standard & Poor’s Cuts U.S. Banks’ Credit Ratings (Bloomberg)
Asian stocks fell after Standard & Poor’s reduced credit ratings for lenders including Bank of America Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. as Europe’s debt crisis cuts the global earnings outlook. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. Japan’s second-biggest bank by market value, fell 1 percent in Tokyo. Nanya Technology Corp. (2408), a Taiwanese memory-chip maker, slumped 6.7 percent after a report DRAM prices for the second half of November fell. Japanese power producers led gains among companies whose earnings are viewed as stable throughout the economic cycle. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.5 percent to 112.63 as of 3:40 p.m. in Tokyo, headed for a 7.5 percent drop for the month. All but three of 10 industry groups on the measure declined, with about five stocks falling for every four that advanced.
Asian shares fall on caution over euro zone bailout progress (Bloomberg)
TOKYO, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Asian shares fell and the euro trimmed gains as caution set in over the chance for more progress in resolving euro zone debt woes after officials agreed to strengthen a rescue fund and seek more aid from the International Monetary Fund.
"The focus remains on who will give money, to which no fresh news was provided," said Junya Tanase, chief currency strategist at JPMorgan Chase in Tokyo, adding that investors were likely relaxing their risk aversion stance.
China’s Stocks Fall Most in 4 Months After Xia Sees Tight Policies in 2012 (Bloomberg)
China’s stocks fell the most in almost four months after a central bank adviser said he sees the nation keeping tight monetary policies next year and Shenyin & Wanguo Securities Co. forecast plunging export growth. China Vanke Co. (000002) and China Citic Bank Corp. led declines for financial stocks after Xia Bin said policy fine-tuning doesn’t mean a loosening of credit or changes in interest rates. Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. (600019) and Anhui Conch Cement Co. slid more than 3 percent after Shenyin & Wanguo estimated the export growth rate almost halved this month while industrial output slowed. PetroChina Co. slid to a record low and Jiangxi Copper Co. fell to the lowest in 16 months after Morgan Stanley said further commodity gains may be limited next year. “Investors who expected looser policies have come to realize that’s not going to happen,” said Wang Weijun, a strategist at Zheshang Securities Co. in Shanghai. “The economy is going to slow down. That’s bad for stocks.”
South Korea Factory Output Drops as Europe Contagion Hits Exports: Economy (Bloomberg)
South Korea’s industrial output fell, India’s economy grew the least in more than two years and Thailand cut interest rates as an Asian slowdown limits the region’s ability to support a faltering world recovery. Korea’s production fell 0.7 percent in October from September, Statistics Korea said today. India’s gross domestic product rose 6.9 percent in the three months through September, the government said. Thailand’s benchmark rate fell to 3.25 percent from 3.5 percent. Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis is capping demand for shipments from economies in the region that has been leading the global recovery. In China, stocks tumbled on concern a slowdown will deepen after central bank adviser Xia Bin said a government pledge to fine-tune policies doesn’t mean credit controls will be loosened or property curbs reversed.
FOREX-Euro inches up, takes EFSF plans in stride
SINGAPORE, Nov 30 (Reuters) - The euro inched higher on Wednesday as the market gave a guarded reception to details on the euro zone's new lending facility and on proposals to expand funding for the IMF so it could lend to troubled members such as Italy.
"Flows from institutional investors show that they have returned to selling (risky assets) again," Tomita said.
U.S. wheat drops 0.7 pct; euro zone worries weigh
SINGAPORE, Nov 30 (Reuters) - U.S. wheat slid amid a broad-based weakness in the commodity markets following a near 4 percent rally in the last session, its biggest one-day gain in more than a month. "Corn and wheat markets are generally tracking the outside market as Europe's debt crisis is still playing in the minds of investors," said Lynette Tan, an analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.
Firm cash seen limiting CBOT wheat/corn deliveries
CHICAGO, Nov 29 (Reuters) - U.S. grain traders largely expect no corn and wheat deliveries against the Chicago Board of Trade December contracts on Wednesday, the first notice day for deliveries, due to strong prices in the cash markets.
Eight traders and analysts polled by Reuters were expecting no deliveries in oats, but deliveries of 2,000 to 3,000 soyoil contracts and zero to 200 soymeal. Two of the eight said there could be large deliveries of wheat by speculators.
Weather seen taking toll on Brazil '12 coffee-coop
BRASILIA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Brazil's 2012 coffee harvest will be smaller than the last 'on-year' crop in 2010 because of bad weather that has taken a heavy toll on trees, local cooperative Cooparaiso said on Tuesday.
The coop is still preparing its output estimate for the world's top coffee grower, though it joins a growing number of local producers and exporters in dismissing the idea the next crop will be the boom year that some foreign analysts predict.
Dry, warm autumn brings risks for W.Europe grains
PARIS, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Unusually dry and warm autumn weather in western Europe could leave grains more vulnerable to a cold snap this winter in France and Germany and may already have led to some sowings being disrupted in Spain, analysts and crop experts said.
It was too early to predict potential losses and the arrival of rain and cooler weather in the coming weeks would ease the situation by strengthening plants, they said.
World sugar consumption to hit 201 mln T by 2020-ISO
LONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - World sugar consumption is set to grow to 201 million tonnes by 2020, growing by an average 2.02 percent a year, the International Sugar Organization (ISO) said on Tuesday.
ISO senior economist Leonardo Bichara Rocha told the annual ISO seminar that 60 percent of world consumption growth by 2020 would come from the Far East and the Indian sub-continent.
Cuban sugar harvest gets under way, 20 pct rise seen
HAVANA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Cuba's 2011-2012 sugar harvest got under way on Tuesday as cane cutting began in Eastern Guantanamo province, official media reported, amid optimism that improved organization and more cane will translate into a 20 percent increase in raw sugar production.
The first of 46 mills was scheduled to open on Wednesday, and a second on Thursday, with plans calling for output to reach 1.45 million tonnes by the time the season ends in April, compared with 1.2 million tonnes Reuters estimates was produced during the previous harvest.
Brazil cane output seen down for first time in decade
LONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Centre-south Brazil is on track to produce 490 million tonnes of sugarcane in 2011/12, representing the first fall in sugar production in the South American country in a decade, Plinio Nastari, president of consultancy Datagro, said on Monday.
He told the annual International Sugar Organization (ISO) seminar that he expected total sugar production in Brazil to fall to 35.4 million tonnes in 2011/12 from 38.0 million in 2010/11. Brazil is the world's top sugar producer and exporter.
Africa's coffee output to rise by a third by 2015
NAIROBI, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Africa's coffee output could leap by a third within the next five years as farmers scramble to replace mature trees with disease-resistant seeds to cash in on soaring global prices for the beans, a senior industry official said.
Poor prices, drought, disease and political instability in major producers such as Ivory Coast have led to neglect of coffee farms, while some farmers ditched the commodity in favour of planting staple foods such as maize.
Brent stays above $110, boosted by Mideast tensions, Europe bailout
SINGAPORE, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Brent crude stayed above $110, holding onto its previous session gains, as Iran's escalating tensions with the West and an agreement by euro zone ministers to ramp up the firepower of their bailout fund helped support prices.
"Overall sentiment in the market remains bullish even though oil futures edged down this morning," said Victor Shum of energy consulting firm Purvin & Gertz.
LME copper falls 1.3 pct as euro zone woes weigh
SINGAPORE, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Copper fell as a concrete solution to Europe's debt struggle remained elusive with a European Central Bank official saying the crisis has significantly worsened, further clouding the outlook for industrial metal demand.
"The situation in Europe and the world has significantly worsened over the past few weeks," ECB governing council member Christian Noyer said at a conference in Singapore. "Market stress has intensified."
Indonesia smelters to ship 800T tin despite export ban
PANGKAL PINANG, Indonesia, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Indonesian tin smelters will ship a total of 800 tonnes of tin to Singapore this week, breaking the industry's self-imposed ban on shipments from the world's top exporter, an official of the country's tin association said on Tuesday.
Smelters in Indonesia's main tin producing region of Bangka island stopped shipments from Oct. 1 in an effort to push benchmark tin prices above $23,000 a tonne, although PT Koba Tin sent a shipment to Singapore last week.
Thailand sees record 2011/12 sugar output at 9.9 mln T
BANGKOK, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Thailand, the world's second-biggest sugar exporter, has started its 2011/12 crushing season and is forecast to produce a record 9.9 million tonnes of the sweetener this year and may export 7.5 million tonnes in 2012, a senior official said on Tuesday.
Although the forecast was more or less within market expectations of around 9.5 million to 10 million tonnes of sugar and largely unaffected by the floods, more supply from Thailand could put pressure on Thai premiums, a key indicator of demand.
China daily crude steel output steady in mid-Nov
BEIJING, Nov 29 (Reuters) - China produced 1.664 million tonnes of crude steel per day over the Nov 11-20 period, unchanged from the first 10 days of the month but still at a 12-month low, according to data from the China Iron and Steel Association.
Chinese steel output has plummeted since the end of September, with uncertain demand prompting the country's mills into scheduling a series of overhauls, and the market is not expected to recover until next year.
Italy steel industry: revamp or meltdown
MILAN, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Italy's steel industry, second only to Germany's in the European Union, must focus on top quality specialised output for energy, engineering and other high-tech industries and its fragmented family firms consolidate if they are to beat off Asian rivals.
The industry still produces too much basic quality, low margin semi-finished steel products, known as commodity, in which it has been losing to lower-cost rivals, such as China, India, Turkey, Iran and other non-EU countries, analysts said.
Chile Oct copper output up 1 pct yr/yr
SANTIAGO, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Chile, which provides around one-third of the world's copper, produced 466,822 tonnes of the red metal in October, up 1 percent from the same month last year, the government said on Tuesday.
Chile produced 436,743 tonnes of the metal in September, down 1.9 percent from the same month last year, the government said last month.
Gold on course for 3rd day of gains; Europe eyed
SINGAPORE, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Spot gold rose more than half a percent in thin trade, on course for a third consecutive session of gains, as investors continue to watch euro zone nations struggle to contain the region's two-year-old debt crisis.
"The dollar is slightly weaker compared to yesterday and gold is getting ahead," said a Shanghai-based trader, "But there is no clear direction in the market and people prefer to hold cash under such circumstance."
Russia's 10-m gold output up 5.1 pct at 177 T-lobby
MOSCOW, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Russian gold firms produced 177 tonnes of gold in the first 10 months of 2011, 5.1 percent more than in the same period of 2010, the Gold Industrialists' Union industry lobby said on Tuesday.
The lobby expects Russia to produce 211 tonnes of gold this year, of which 185 tonnes will be mined.
METALS-LME copper falls 1.3 pct as euro zone woes weigh
SINGAPORE, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Copper fell on Wednesday as a concrete solution to Europe's debt struggle remained elusive with a European Central Bank official saying the crisis has significantly worsened, further clouding the outlook for industrial metal demand.
"The situation in Europe and the world has significantly worsened over the past few weeks," ECB governing council member Christian Noyer said at a conference in Singapore. "Market stress has intensified."
PRECIOUS-Gold on course for 3rd day of gains; Europe eyed
SINGAPORE, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Spot gold rose more than half a percent in thin trade on Wednesday, on course for a third consecutive session of gains, as investors continue to watch euro zone nations struggle to contain the region's two-year-old debt crisis.
"The dollar is slightly weaker compared to yesterday and gold is getting ahead," said a Shanghai-based trader, "But there is no clear direction in the market and people prefer to hold cash under such circumstance."
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