. ASIA/PACIFIC
-Australia’s stock market closed higher on Thursday boosted by the technology sector. The country’s whose exports fell to their lowest level since December 2021.
-Asia-Pacific stocks rose Thursday. Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda according to a Reuters report said it would be “appropriate” to reduce the purchases of bonds by the central bank as it unwinds its ultra-loose monetary policy.
-Kazakhstan’s services sector in May recorded a third consecutive monthly rise in business activity, according to an accompanying statement put out with the latest purchasing managers’ index (PMI) survey data by S&P Global.
. EUROPE
-European stock markets kicked off Thursday’s trading session higher as investors anticipate the first European Central Bank interest rate cut since 2019. The upcoming ECB monetary policy decision is scheduled for release later in the day.
-The 27th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) opened on Wednesday with the participation of delegates from 136 countries and regions. The four-day Russian flagship forum features more than 400 business events.
-The Bucharest technology and operations center of London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) saw its net profit double, and turnover rising 94% in Romania in 2023.
. AMERICAS
North America
-U.S. stock futures were little changed on Thursday morning after Wall Street had closed on a positive note on Wednesday, helped by gains in the technology space triggered by a tech rally in AI chip darling Nvidia.
-The Bank of Canada lowered on Wednesday its key interest rate to 4.75 per cent, marking the bank’s first rate cut since March 2020.
Latin America
– Recently, the Brazilian Congress approved a bill that lets all levels of government—federal, state, and local—turn their owed debts into securities, opening to global investors.
-Colombia’s lender Bancolombia wants to sell international bonds and use the proceeds to buy back notes maturing in 2025 and 2027, Latin Finance reported.
. AFRICA
-South African assets were among the world’s worst performers on Wednesday, after the African National Congress said it’s considering a government comprising several parties, rather than a tie-up with the business-friendly Democratic Alliance, Bloomberg reported.
-The Ethiopian government has announced that the country’s economy is on track to achieve a projected 7.9 percent growth rate for the current fiscal year.
-In 2022, over $30 billion in gold, or more than 435 metric tons, was smuggled out of Africa, says the report by Swissaid. Switzerland, another main buyer of African gold, imported some 21 metric tons of undeclared gold from Africa in 2022, the report also said.
. MIDDLE EAST
-The UAE has been committed to Opec+, consumers and the market despite some media reports suggesting otherwise, energy minister Suhail Al Mazrouei told a panel in Russia’s St. Petersburg on Thursday.
-Saudi Arabia will increase its oil production capacity from 2025 to 2027, before going back to the current level of 12.3 million barrels per day in 2028, the Kingdom’s energy minister told the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg.
-Iran has produced $1 billion more agricultural products over the past calendar year to late March than that produced a year earlier, MEHR news agency reported citing Minister of Agriculture Mohammad-Ali Nikbakh.
