It’s been a bumper year for stock markets – but how good was 2016 really? December 20, 2016 “Some investors have quipped that it took days for the markets to digest the UK referendum outcome, hours to come to terms with Donald Trump as President-Elect and minutes to assess Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s resignation,” Mark Haefele, global chief investment officer at UBS Wealth Management, told clients last week. It has been a [...]
FTSE 100 miners Fresnillo, Randgold Resources and Polymetal fall as gold prices slump to 10-month low December 15, 2016 Shares in FTSE 100 gold miners were battered this morning as prices of the yellow stuff fell to a 10-month low. A dollar rally pushed spot gold prices down 1.23 per cent to $1,128.85 an ounce this morning, after the US Federal Reserve yesterday raised US interest rates from 0.5 to 0.75 per cent and [...]
Mining stocks have finally recovered in step with commodity prices but can the rally continue? December 12, 2016 AS THE political earthquakes of the past few months exact a heavy toll on currencies including sterling, commodities have been a beneficiary. Iron ore prices, for example, have doubled from their January 2016 lows while other base metal prices like zinc have also climbed, up nearly 70 per cent in the year to date. The [...]
Rosneft buys 30 per cent stake in Eni’s “super-giant” Egyptian Zohr gas field December 12, 2016 Russian oil behemoth Rosneft has snapped up a 30 per cent stake in Eni's Shorouk concession, which contains the Mediterranean's largest gas field, for $1.58bn (£1.25bn). This cuts the Italian oil and gas group's stake in the concession from 90 per cent to 60 per cent. Rosneft will pay $1.13bn in cash for the concession and [...]
Santa’s naughty list could well be shorter this year as coal demand waning and growth set to stall for next five years December 12, 2016 Waning appetite from key consuming nations and swift growth in other sources of energy will stall global demand for coal over the next five years, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). (Though maybe it's just that so few children were naughty this year that coal's no longer needed…) Coal demand fell last year for [...]
Glencore and the Qatari sovereign wealth fund have partnered up to buy 20 per cent of Rosneft in the “largest deal in the history of Russia” December 12, 2016 Shares in British mining giant Glencore rose this morning after it confirmed it has teamed up with the Qatari sovereign wealth fund to finalise a deal dubbed the "largest in the history of Russia". Shares were up 1.3 per cent at 304p in early trading, after Glencore said it had launched a strategic partnership with the Qatar [...]
Russian oil major Tatneft celebrates 20 years of being quoted on the London Stock Exchange December 12, 2016 Russian oil major Tatneft will open the London Stock Exchange this morning to celebrate 20 years of being quoted in London. Over that period the total shareholder return of the group, which has a market cap of around £10bn, over that period has been just shy of 1,900 per cent. This means a pound invested [...]
Glencore and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund snap up a 19.5 per cent stake in Russian state-controlled oil group Rosneft December 7, 2016 Glencore and Qatar's sovereign wealth fund have banded together to buy a 19.5 per cent stake in Russian state-controlled oil producer Rosneft. The FTSE 100-listed commodities group and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) will pay Russia €10.5bn (£8.9bn) for a fifth of the world's largest listed oil producer, Russian state media has said. Russia will [...]
FTSE 100 falls ahead of the Italian referendum – but the pound tries to keep its chin up December 2, 2016 The FTSE 100 slid almost one per cent in morning trading today, as jitters over the outcome of the Italian referendum and the higher oil price conspired against equities. The UK's blue-chip market was down 0.9 per cent at 6,693 points in mid-morning trading, pushed down by minters and oil giants, after oil prices jumped this [...]
Rio Tinto confirms it is being investigated in US over accounts writedown December 1, 2016 Rio Tinto confirmed this morning that it is the subject of a long-running US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) probe. The investigation, which started in April 2013, relates to a $3bn (£2.4bn) impairment charge lodged in its 2012 accounts in respect of Rio Tinto Coal Mozambique. Rio Tinto Coal Mozambique housed assets the company picked up when it took [...]