ASIA/PACIFIC
-The Australian stock market finished higher on Thursday led by gold miners and technology companies after Wall Street stock benchmarks notched record highs overnight, shrugging off global political turmoil.
-Asian markets traded mixed as traders took stock of the political crises in South Korea and France.
-Indian IT stocks continued their winning streak for the fifth straight session with the Nifty IT crossing 45,000 for first time.
. EUROPE
-Major stock market indices in Europe closed on a positive note on Thursday with investors closely following the developments in France, and digesting the latest batch of regional economic data.
-Shell plc and Equinor ASA announced plans to merge their British offshore oil and gas assets, creating what will become the U.K.’s largest independent energy company.
-Italy’s 2024 GDP forecast revised down to 0.5% in 2024 and 0.8% in 2025, according to the statistics office Istat.
. AMERICAS
North America
– U.S. major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually ending the day in negative territory.
Latin America
-LatAm corporates Gruma, Santander México and Vista Energy tap US market raising more than $2 bln combined in bond market, Latin Finance reported.
-Argentine Peso leads global currency appreciation in 2024, gaining 40.1% in value. This development stands in stark contrast to its regional neighbors, with Brazil’s real losing 13% in the same period, The Rio Times reported.
. AFRICA
-Egypt plans to list three or four companies affiliated with the military on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX), Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced at a press conference Wednesday.
-The Stock Exchange of Mauritius (SEM) launches SEMX, designed to help fast-growing, profitable companies with proven track records leverage SEM’s multi-currency funding platform to raise capital for their next stages of growth and expansion.
-Zimbabwe set to end the year with Africa’s highest interest rate, Bloomberg reported. The Southern African country’s interest rate is now at 35%.
. MIDDLE EAST
-Most stock markets in the Gulf ended higher on Thursday, helped by growing confidence in a likely U.S. interest rate cut and a potential delay in OPEC+’s planned output increase.
– Moody’s sees stable 2025 outlook for GCC banks: “We have changed the global outlook for banks to stable from negative, reflecting our expectation that stabilization of economic growth and monetary easing will support operating environments for banks, alleviate pressure on their asset quality and help their deposit growth recover” the rating agency said.
-Saudi Arabia and its banks are exploring issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) to unlock liquidity for Vision 2030 IFR reported.
. COMMODITIES
GOLD
Spot gold was nearly unchanged at $2,647.17 per ounce, as of 0326 GMT. U.S. gold futures eased 0.2% to $2,671.10.
SILVER-PLATINUM-PALLADIUM
Spot silver fell 0.3% to $31.21 per ounce, platinum steadied at $941.58 and palladium was flat at $977.31.
OIL
Brent crude futures climbed 12 cents, or 0.2%, to $72.43 a barrel by 0103 GMT while U.S. crude futures
were at $68.70 a barrel, up 16 cents, or 0.2%.
OPEC+ extends oil output cuts until April 2025
