Saudi Arabia has insisted that it remains committed to an initial public offering of national oil company Saudi Aramco, but said the listing would go ahead “at a time of its own choosing, when conditions are optimum”. The government statement follows months of signs that the kingdom was unwilling or unable to forge ahead with a planned flotation — which could be the largest ever — and a Reuters report saying both the proposed domestic and international stock listings had been called off, with IPO advisers disbanded.
Donald Trump is facing the most serious legal crisis of his presidency after his long-time lawyer pleaded guilty to arranging payments “at the direction” of his former boss during the 2016 campaign to silence two women who alleged they had affairs with Mr Trump.
Moody’s has extended its review of Italy’s Baa2 ratings in order to get “better visibility on the country’s policy direction” under its coalition government. The rating agency had initially launched the review for a potential downgrade on May 25, and it said it usually tries to wrap up such reviews within about three months.
Emerging markets tumbled by the most in six months on Wednesday and remained weak on Thursday, slumping into a bear market as investors were spooked by a commodity price rout, currency turmoil and disappointing results from one of China’s technology giants. In spite of a recovery in the Turkish lira after the country cracked down on short selling of the currency, the FTSE Emerging Index of stocks in the developing world fell as much as 2.3 per cent on Wednesday. That took the benchmark’s decline since its January 26 peak to more than 20 per cent — the usual definition of a bear market. The gauge ended the day down 2.1 per cent, for a 19.7 per cent slump since January’s high. Stocks in Asia continued to fall in early trading on Thursday. Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey would boycott American electronics in retaliation for US sanctions on his country. Speaking on Tuesday, the Turkish president vowed that the nation of 81m would no longer buy from Apple or other American technology producers. “If they have the iPhone, there is Samsung on the other side,” he told ruling party members. “In our own country there is the Venus.” Shares in Vestel, the Turkish home appliances and electronics producer that makes the Venus phone, rose sharply following his comments. Turkey was thrust into a full-blown currency crisis on Friday, as a defiant President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned of an “economic war” against the country and Donald Trump imposed even higher tariffs on its steel and aluminium exports to the US. In a tumultuous day in the markets, the lira tumbled 14.3 per cent against the dollar to TL6.47 from the previous New York close. The currency — which has lost more than 40 per cent of its value this year — was 18.5 per cent lower at one point on Friday. The lira’s collapse rippled across other emerging markets, sending the South African rand, Argentine peso and Russian rouble lower by between 1.5 per cent and 3.5 per cent. Investors retreated from riskier assets, while European banks with exposure to Turkey suffered sharp share price falls. After weeks of mounting concern about Turkey’s economic and political leadership, investors took flight as Mr Erdogan gave scant detail about how he would shore up the currency, and as Mr Trump exacerbated a damaging split between the two longstanding Nato allies.
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March 2021
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