Asia tracks Wall St losses on Fed tightening concerns

HONG KONG - Asian stocks opened with losses on Monday, as unease lingered over tightening monetary policy by the Fed and investors awaited earnings reports by retailers due this week.

Wall Street stocks mostly fell Friday. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq retreated as the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note climbed above 2.7 percent, a signal markets are preparing for more tightening as the Federal Reserve battles inflation.

The losses continued Monday in Tokyo, as well as in Hong Kong and Shanghai where the main indexes lost more than two percent.

Taipei and Seoul were also down, while Sydney and Jakarta posted slight gains.

"Stocks are soft at the Monday open on increasing evidence the Federal Reserve will take a more committed approach to its monetary policy inflation-fighting stance," said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.

"However, markets have been surprisingly resilient as discussions under the surface debated whether this week's US March CPI data will hint at the peak of the inflation cycle and help the Fed's chance to better engineer a soft landing, however narrow that path may seem."

And Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist of Monex, added: "Focus this week is on the US and Chinese consumer price indexes for March," among other data, to glean clues on the Fed's monetary policy and that of other central banks.

The US central bank has recently taken a hawkish tone as it embarks on an aggressive tightening path, prompting traders to fret over the prospect of higher interest rates.

The euro climbed as much as 0.7 percent against the dollar before paring the gain, suggesting some relief over the French election but ongoing wariness.

Investors had fretted about the implications of a victory for President Emmanuel Macron's nationalist rival Marine Le Pen in the midst of the war in Ukraine, given her long-standing sympathies for Russia.

Macron was set to beat Le Pen in the first round of elections Sunday by a larger-than-expected margin, the two candidates advancing to a run-off later this month.

"Make no mistake: nothing is decided," Macron told supporters.

Agence France-Presse

Rouble-crypto trading soars as sanctions hit Russian currency

Trading volumes between the Russian rouble and the Tether cryptocurrency spiked sharply on Monday as the local currency tumbled to a record low on Western sanctions, data shared with Reuters showed.

Rouble-denominated trades with the Tether - a so-called stablecoin - hit $29.4 million, their highest this year and around three times more than a week earlier, according to Arcane Research, an Oslo-based digital asset researcher.

Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency designed to avoid the wild fluctuations that plague bitcoin. In theory, their steady value allows users to protect funds or savings in times of economic stress.

The figures suggest surging interest in crypto among Russians after Western sanctions imposed on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine took a toll on the local currency.

The Russian rouble tumbled to a record low in volatile trade on Monday, losing a third of its value so far this year, after the West ramped up sanctions including blocking banks from the SWIFT global payments system. 

Trading between the rouble and bitcoin (BTC), whose 13-year history has been peppered with wild price swings - was more muted, the data showed.

Rouble-bitcoin trading on Thursday topped $16 million, its highest this year, as Russia launched its invasion. On Monday it totalled about $8.5 million.

"People with the rouble are trying to get out of it due to the drastic devaluation after all the sanctions," said Arcane's Bendik Norheim Schei.

"Under the current market conditions, I'm not surprised to see investors, at least those in Russia, seeking stablecoins and not taking on the market risk of BTC. This is about saving their funds, not investing."

-reuters-

Apple retreats again, after valuation tops $3 trillion again

Apple Inc's stock market value peaked on Tuesday for a second day above a $3 trillion, but the iPhone maker's shares again failed hold that gain by the session's end.

Apple shares ended down 1.3 percent at $179.70, leaving its market capitalization at $2.95 trillion.

On Monday, Apple's stock market value rose briefly above $3 trillion for the first time ever, and it repeated that again on Tuesday before losing ground. The world's most valuable company has yet to end a session at that level.

Apple accounts for nearly 7 percent of S&P 500 index's value, according to Refinitiv data, the highest for a single stock in the index at a time when the benchmark is perched at a peak.

Surging demand for iPhones, MacBooks and iPads during the pandemic helped push the Cupertino, California company's market capitalization past $2 trillion in August 2020.

"Apple has been one of the key pandemic trades for a lot of people and as we exit the pandemic. ... the iPhone maker is going to struggle a little bit," warned Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda in New York.

Apple's massive share repurchases in recent years have also fuelled its stock rally.

The company has bought back $348 billion worth of shares in the 5 years through the September quarter of 2021, reducing its share count by 23 percent over that period, according to Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

"You know there's going to be buying," Silverblatt said. "From an investor point of view, it's very important."

With Tesla now the world's most valuable automaker as Wall Street bets heavily on electric cars, many investors expect Apple to launch its own vehicle within the next few years as it looks to reduce its current reliance on iPhones for about half of its revenue.

Notably, Apple is worth more than any of Europe's main regional indexes including Britain's FTSE 100, France's CAC 40, Germany's DAX, Spain's IBEX 35 and Italy's FTSE MIB.

Apple's stock is now up 1 percent in 2022 after gaining 34 percent last year. It is trading at about 31 times expected 12-month earnings, which is expensive compared to its five-year average of 20 times expected earnings, according to Refinitiv data.

-reuters-

S&P 500 sets record high, crypto market cap passes $2 trillion

NEW YORK - A string of surprisingly robust economic data boosted investor risk appetite on Monday, which sent the S&P 500 and the Dow to all-time closing highs and boosted cryptocurrency market cap over the $2 trillion hurdle.

Friday's employment report showed the economy added 916,000 jobs last month, suggesting stimulus and vaccine deployment have jump-started what could be the strongest yearly economic performance in decades.

Enthusiasm over the growing momentum of economic recovery was boosted on Monday with the Institute for Supply Management's nonmanufacturing PMI report, which showed the pandemic-battered services sector expanded at a record pace in March.

"You're seeing pretty broad-based strength and that's a positive for the market," said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana. "That kind of breadth in the market, it tends to portend advances that have legs."

That broad-based strength carried over into cryptocurrencies.

Demand for digital cash continues to grow, with market cap hitting a record high of $2 trillion on Monday.

"It's a risk-on day, and an environment where people are willing to take on risk helps the crytocurrencies," Carlson added.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 373.98 points, or 1.13%, to 33,527.19, the S&P 500 gained 58.04 points, or 1.44%, to 4,077.91 and the Nasdaq Composite added 225.49 points, or 1.67%, to 13,705.59.

The dollar dipped to a one-week low against a basket of currencies as U.S. stocks rallied, although low liquidity in many parts of the world off for Easter holidays may have exaggerated the move.

The dollar index fell 0.46%, with the euro up 0.4% to $1.1809.

The Japanese yen strengthened 0.48% versus the greenback at 110.20 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.3903, up 0.54% on the day.

European and Australian stock markets were closed in observance of Easter Monday, while China's stock market was dark in observance of Tomb Sweeping day.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.97%.

Emerging market stocks rose 0.06%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.03% higher, while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.79%.

US Treasury yields dipped as investors consolidated their positions, though the uptrend remains intact in the wake of Friday's payrolls report.

Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 3/32 in price to yield 1.7127%, from 1.72% late on Friday.

The 30-year bond last rose 7/32 in price to yield 2.3541%, from 2.37% late on Friday.

Oil prices fell as increasing OPEC+ supply and rising Iranian output, along with the threat of a new wave of COVID-19 infections, offset hopes for a demand rebound driven by economic revival.

US crude settled at $58.65 per barrel, down 4.6% on the day, while Brent shed 4.18% to end at $62.15 per barrel.

Gold prices edged lower as the safe-haven metal's luster was dimmed by rising global equity prices.

Spot gold dropped 0.1% to $1,727.98 an ounce. U.S. gold futures settled little changed at $1,728.80.

-reuters-

Bitcoin smashes through $50,000 as it wins more mainstream acceptance

LONDON - Bitcoin soared above $50,000 on Tuesday for the first time, adding steam to a rally fueled by signs that the world's biggest cryptocurrency is gaining acceptance among mainstream investors and companies.

Bitcoin hit a record $50,603 and was last up 0.83% at $48,351. It has risen around 67% so far this year, with most of the gains coming after electric carmaker Tesla said it had bought $1.5 billion in bitcoin.

The move by Tesla, which also said it would accept bitcoin as payment, was the latest in a string of large investments that have vaulted bitcoin from the fringes of finance to company balance sheets and Wall Street, with US firms and traditional money managers starting to buy the coin.

"The rally in bitcoin in part reflects the recent buoyancy of market confidence but also headlines suggesting an increase in corporate acceptability," said Jane Foley, head of FX Strategy at Rabobank.

Such mainstream moves, some investors said, could help bitcoin become a widespread means of payment - which it has so far failed to achieve at any large scale - and in turn bolster prices further.

"The more people that adopt it and use it as money, then the greater the chances of it perhaps being taken on board as a mainstream currency," said Russ Mould, investment director of AJ Bell. "That would feed further speculative interest."

The rush in 2021 by retail and institutional investors comes on top of a 300% rise last year as investors searched for high-yielding assets and alternatives to the dollar amid rock-bottom or even negative interest rates across the globe.

The meteoric rise of bitcoin, which traded at a few hundred dollars only five years earlier, has also led major investment banks to warn of a speculative bubble.

Bitcoin's rise "blows the doors off prior bubbles," BofA said last month.

Even as bitcoin enters the mainstream, cryptocurrencies remain subject to patchy oversight around the world, with the lack of regulatory clarity and associations with crime keeping many larger investors leery of exposure.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde both called last month for tighter oversight of bitcoin due to concerns over its use for criminal activities such as money laundering.

Some believe the extreme volatility is a cause for concern.

"We feel that, due to its volatility, bitcoin lacks many of the established qualities that make up 'money', such as being a stable store of value and unit of account," said George Lagarias, chief economist at Mazars.

DIGITAL GOLD?

Also boosting bitcoin's rise have been analyst suggestions that its limited supply of 21 million could boost further gains for the virtual asset.

A narrative of bitcoin becoming "digital gold" has gained traction as investors predict looming inflation with central banks and governments opening the stimulus taps to counter COVID-19.

St. Louis US Federal Reserve President James Bullard told CNBC in an interview on Tuesday that bitcoin's claim to be rival to gold would not threaten the dollar's dominance.

"Investors want a safe haven, they want a stable store value and then they want to conduct their investments in that currency," he said. "It's very hard to get a private currency - it's really more like gold - to play that role."

JPMorgan said in January that bitcoin emerged as a rival to gold and could trade as high as $146,000 if it becomes established as a safe-haven asset.

"The fundamental view that bitcoin as a viable store of value amongst investors and as a treasury asset for corporations is continuing to gain traction," said James Butterfill, investment strategist at digital asset manager CoinShares.

US business intelligence software firm MicroStrategy Inc , whose CEO has become one of bitcoin's most visible proponents, on Tuesday said it would issue $600 million of debt through convertible notes to buy additional bitcoin.

Meanwhile, smaller cryptocurrency ethereum fell 2.42%, after earlier rising to $1,826, which was just shy of its record high price of $1,875.

With value of cryptocurrencies close to $1.5 trillion, some investors caution about the value in owning bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.

"As an intangible asset with no yield or practical use, save for a few organizations who accept it as payment, it is really just demand (against a predictable supply) which determines its price," said Mazars' Lagarias.

"But whereas the price of bitcoin has risen to the skies, what value one gets from holding it in a long-term portfolio still remains subject of much debate."

-reuters-

After dizzying gyrations, what's bitcoin really worth?

LONDON - After the latest wild ride took the poster child of cryptocurrencies above $40,000 before a stomach-churning plunge, the million dollar question won't go away: how much is bitcoin actually worth?

The virtual currency barreled to new highs to rise more than 400 percent over the past year, before promptly sliding some 20 percent and then settling around $36,000.

When it started life in 2009 as open-source software, bitcoin was essentially worth zero -- though within a year it had reached the heady heights of eight cents.

At today's market rates, bloated by a surge in institutional demand, the digital unit's market capitalization is worth some $670 billion with myriad other crypto coins such as ethereum lifting the sector nominally close to the trillion mark.

Although that's small potatoes compared to the $68 trillion or so swilling around world stock markets, it is nonetheless the sort of financial territory staked out by Wall Street tech royalty such as Google, Apple or Tesla. 

One tech site, AssetDash.com, notes that bitcoin is currently worth around as much as Facebook and a little more than Chinese e-retail giant Alibaba.

CURSE OF THE FORGOTTEN PASSWORD

Although deep-pocketed investors have recently become enthusiasts, crypto was in its early days the preserve of geeky amateur investors.

It is the latter who have mainly suffered as an estimated four million of the roughly 19 million bitcoin units currently in circulation have been lost.

"Lost" does not mean the coins have fallen down the back of the sofa or through a hole in a trouser pocket: they have been electronically zapped from the record, often because their owner has forgotten a password to coins hoarded on a USB stick.

One US developer mislaid his password after storing 7,002 bitcoins on one such flash drive, forcing him to wave goodbye, on paper (or rather, the trading screen), to around $280 million.

This week, Welshman James Howells desperately offered his local authority a quarter of his fortune to dig up a landfill site where he believes a hard drive he accidentally tossed away -- and which has since soared in value to around $270 million -- is buried. The council refused, citing the cost and logistical restrictions. 

According to analysts at JP Morgan, bitcoin may be highly volatile but could go as high as $146,000 per unit, putting it in competition with gold as an asset class in terms of private sector investment.

That volatility, as well as the unregulated and decentralized nature of the bitcoin beast, are key reasons why many seasoned financial observers are scared off -- as well as the risk of "losing" their stash.

"Most of the lost bitcoins were acquired in the early days," said Philip Gradwell, economist with Chainalysis.

Gradwell said that around one in five bitcoins in circulation today have not budged from their location in five years -- since days when the unit was worth not much more than $100.

"One or two million of those belong to Satoshi himself," added Gradwell, referring to the creator of the coin, whose identity remains unknown.

He added that the bulk of investors are not day-to-day traders, but people making a long-term punt -- and he estimates that the spectacular price boom of recent weeks has involved only around five millions units.

Patrick Heusser, head of trading at Swiss trader Crypto Broker, said that following the trading volumes of a variety of cryptocurrencies, rather than just bitcoin, would give a better idea of how the market is faring.

"Ethereum has a lot of activity on the chain, but on the litecoin side there is almost nothing going on," said Heusser, with the former valued at some $138 billion currently, and the latter at $10 billion.

Heusser suggested the rises have been largely a bitcoin slipstream effect, and he cautioned against drawing parallels with gold.

"To be honest I don't believe that it is a very powerful or insightful metric inside what's going on in the crypto market," Heusser concluded.

After years of experience on traditional currency markets, he judged that it was early days for the crypto equivalent.

"We're still a small fish," he said.

Agence France-Presse

Japan's financial watchdog to order Tokyo bourse to swiftly report on trading system glitch

TOKYO - Japan's financial watchdog will order the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) to report swiftly on its system glitch that halted trading at the bourse for the whole day on Thursday, Finance Minister Taro Aso said.

The Financial Services Agency needs to examine the case after the stock exchange clears up the system trouble and takes steps to prevent a recurrence, Aso told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

The TSE resumed normal trading on Friday, with the main index starting slightly higher a day after the worst-ever outage brought the world's third-largest equity market to a standstill.

-reuters-

Pandemic propels old-school bond traders towards an electronic future

LONDON - The mammoth bond market has long been the old-school bastion of the financial world, but the COVID-19 pandemic has cast a light on its future - and it looks electronic. Well, mainly.

At the height of the market panic in March, Seattle-based Brandon Rasmussen, a senior fixed-income trader at $300 billion asset manager Russell Investments, had a client order to sell $2.5 billion worth of US Treasuries.

He found, though, that such a transaction was near-impossible in a highly volatile market that made no exceptions for even one of the world's most sought-after assets.

Dealers refused to quote prices by phone, adding to the stress of executing a large order without distorting the market.

The solution Rasmussen eventually settled on was to break the order up into smaller chunks and process them electronically - something he may not have considered a few weeks earlier.

"The feedback that we got from dealers was that they were not quoting on the phone. They couldn't do that, they couldn't keep up with that," he said. "I think what this crisis has shown is that really if you weren't trading electronically, you should be trading electronically."

His experience illustrates how the volatility caused by the crisis, along with a new remote mindset of working from home, has pushed more traders to go digital in a market that has historically lagged stocks and forex in electronification.

That trend is reflected in the business on electronic bond-trading platforms.

For example MarketAxess, one of the biggest players, enjoyed record trading volumes in March. At rival Tradeweb, average daily turnover hit a record aggregate $1 trillion in that month, a more than 41 percent year-on-year increase.

Meanwhile MTS, part of the London Stock Exchange Group , said it won several large asset managers in Europe as clients during the crisis.

Yet traders stress that dealers and clients speaking to one another will long remain a key component of the industry, especially at times of heightened volatility.

Even as Rasmussen went electronic to push through his trade, for example, he was also talking to buyers to agree "switches" - swapping one type of US bond for another to share risk.

The jump in electronic trading activity coincided with both a rush into government bonds as the coronavirus sparked demand for safe-haven assets, and then a sharp selloff as investors sold their most liquid assets to make up for losses elsewhere.

LIQUIDITY & TRANSPARENCY

Electronic trading - where transactions are carried out using software on online platforms, rather than via dealer-client "voice" trades - can carry major benefits for the $100 trillion-plus world of government and corporate debt.

Regulations such as MiFID II in Europe to improve transparency have also boosted electronic trading.

For one, traders executing deals can quickly gauge market depth on their screens, freeing time for more complex trades. For another, it offers lower costs for investors; two dealers estimated it to be 10 percent to 30 percent cheaper than traditional voice trades.

Nonetheless, while most bond industry players acknowledge that much of the future is digital, many have been reluctant to go fully electronic.

Around 45 percent of the European fixed-income market is electronically traded, versus 38 percent a year ago, consultancy Greenwich Associates estimates. In the $6.6 trillion-a-day currency market, 90 percent of spot trading is conducted digitally.

However the COVID-19 crisis is accelerating the electronification of the bond market, according to industry players.

Many such as Tony Rodriguez, US-based head of fixed income strategy at Nuveen Asset Management, said a need for greater liquidity had boosted electronic trading activity.

"A lot of trades were pushed electronically because of greater liquidity and transparency - so the crisis pushed what was already in place," he said.

Andrew Falco, global head of FX and fixed income trading at Fidelity International in London credits electronic trading with allowing connectivity in a market suddenly dispersed by remote working.

This kind of technology enabled the transition from working in an office to working from kitchen tables, he told Reuters.

He said some lessons had been learned about this last year when Fidelity's Hong Kong team struggled to work in the office because of the unrest roiling the city.

"So for us in 2020, we finessed the e-trading home set-up and ensured it worked well, whether it was in HK, Shanghai, Dublin or the UK," he added.


'IMAGINE THIS 25 YEARS AGO' 

For the banks who provide dealer and execution services, though, the electronic shift may be eating into fixed-income revenues; during the March quarter, earnings from bond trading at the world's biggest 12 banks remained below levels seen in 2014, research firm Coalition calculates.

But they too are accelerating the push to digital services, particularly for the automation that helps them when volatility spikes.

JP Morgan, for instance, uses an algorithm to help generate price quotes on its forward FX platform, which includes bonds, fielding "hundreds of thousands of enquiries" and transacting "thousands of trades a day" during the crisis, said Tom Prickett, co-head of EMEA rates at the bank.

Another big player, Goldman Sachs, said clients ramped up calls for the electronification and automation of companies' bond sales, until now a slow process conducted manually.

"The crisis revealed some of those shortcomings in bright lights," said David Wilkins, Goldman's head of FICC execution services in EMEA.

Investors and traders acknowledged that digital technology had been a savior during the pandemic, a view expressed across a host of industries.

"Imagine something like this happening 25 years ago, when emails didn't exist, electronic communication was not really there," said Zoeb Sachee, head of euro linear rates trading at Citibank who oversees government bond trading in European markets.

THE OLD AND THE NEW

But, for the foreseeable future at least, the bond market is likely to encompass the old and the new: technology as well as traditional trading models based on dealer-client relationships.

Traders of European investment-grade corporate bonds during the crisis often negotiated deals by phone before using a platform to settle, according to an International Capital Market Association (ICMA) report.

"Bond markets are very much relationship-driven and I don't see how that goes away," said report author Andy Hill.

This was echoed by Falco at Fidelity.

"The view that we felt as a team was that we would use technology where we had confidence in the price that we could see on the screen, and when we didn't have the confidence in the price, we would execute manually."

-reuters-

Equities stutter on economy, second wave fears

HONG KONG - Equities and oil sank Friday while the dollar rallied as investors ran for the hills following the worst Wall Street rout since March, fuelled by worries about the economic recovery and a second virus wave in the US.

And the magnitude of the financial earthquake caused by the crisis was brought home by data showing the British economy shrank 20.4 percent month-on-month in April.

World markets have blasted higher since hitting a deep trough three months ago, supported by trillions of dollars in government and central bank help and an easing of lockdown measures.

But the optimism on trading floors was shattered Wednesday when Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell signalled the world's top economy would take some time to bounce back from the crisis.

While his comments, and the bank's decision to keep interest rates at near zero for at least two years, was expected, the dose of reality jolted traders.

That coincided with figures showing a spike in new infections in key states including Texas, California, Arizona and Florida, which fanned concerns of a new wave as the nation slowly reopens.

However, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said there would be no more shutdowns, telling CNBC: "I think we've learned that if you shut down the economy, you're going to create more damage."

"Investors have been arguing in recent weeks that the stock market performance and economic reality have been disconnected, wondering when reality might hit the market," said JP Morgan Asset Management strategist Tai Hui. 

"The fear of a rising rate of COVID-19 infections is the most important driver in our view for this sell-off."

Hong Kong, Sydney, Mumbai, Singapore, Jakarta and Bangkok all fell between one and two percent while Wellington and Seoul were more than two percent lower. Tokyo finished 0.8 percent lower and Shanghai was slightly off.

London opened more than one percent lower after the GDP figures were released, while Paris and Frankfurt were also lower.

Still, the losses were shallower than earlier in the day and much lighter than on Wall Street on Thursday, where all three main indexes were routed.

The correction that was needed?

Analysts also blamed profit-taking after the huge run-up since March, which has seen some indexes rise more than 50 percent, with many saying investors had run ahead of themselves on hopes for a V-shaped recovery.

"There is an argument to be made that equities were due a decent correction in light of the gains made in the past three months," said David Madden of CMC Markets.

"On the other hand, economies can't stay locked down forever so a jump in the infection rate is going to be the cost of trying to get things back to normal."

The world equities retreat was reflected in oil markets, with both main contracts tumbling more than eight percent Thursday, hit by uncertainty over demand and data showing a jump in US stockpiles.

And the losses continued into Friday, weighing on energy giants in the region.

The dollar, under pressure for weeks owing to the huge Fed easing measures and the return of risk-taking, rallied as investors sought its safe-haven status. The greenback was up more than one percent against the Canadian, Australian and New Zealand dollars as well as Indonesia's rupiah.

It also jumped more than two percent against the Mexican peso and South African rand.

"Who knows whether this is just the 'correction we had to have' or the start of something more serious," said National Australia Bank's Ray Attrill.

"Certainly though, we don't doubt the ongoing power of central bank policy actions -- from the Fed in particular -- in continuing to place a floor under risk assets relative to the underlying economic fundamentals on which stock prices are supposed to be based."

Agence France-Presse

Global stocks, oil plunge as Fed virus move fails to ease fears

LONDON - Stock markets and oil prices went into freefall Monday as interest rate cuts and fresh stimulus measures by central banks failed to lift confidence, with analysts warning that the Federal Reserve may have reached the limits of its power to fend off recession as the coronavirus spreads.

Brent North Sea oil plunged more than ten percent to a four-year low, as a price war between major producers Saudi Arabia and Russia added to sliding crude demand caused by the virus.

The euro surged one percent against the dollar after the Fed on Sunday slashed borrowing costs to almost zero -- its second emergency cut in less than two weeks. 

The US central bank also unveiled a massive asset-buying programme, similar to measures put into place during the global financial crisis more than a decade ago.

The Bank of Japan joined in on Monday, saying it would ramp up its bond-buying programme.

New Zealand's central bank also slashed rates to record lows in an attempt to cushion the economic blow, while the People's Bank of China has injected vast sums into financial markets to ease liquidity worries.

In joint action coordinated with the European Central Bank, Bank of England, Bank of Japan, Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank, the Fed moved to counteract global "dollar funding pressures" according to its boss Jerome Powell.

But traders were left unimpressed, with the virus showing no sign of letting up, while the head of the World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was impossible to tell when it would peak globally.

With G7 leaders set to hold crisis videoconference talks later Monday, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva called Monday for global governments to work together to provide massive spending as in the 2008 financial crisis to help the economy withstand the damage from the coronavirus pandemic.

Trading was halted on Wall Street just after the opening bell, with the Dow dropping nearly 10 percent. 

In afternoon trading in Europe, Paris 10.7 percent, Milan 10.9 percent, Madrid 11.3 percent, Frankfurt 9.5 percent and London 7.9 percent.

Airlines and tourism groups were the biggest fallers after slashing capacity, with TUI down by nearly a third and British Airways-parent IAG crashing 28 percent.

The car sector also slid as carmakers Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot-Citroen said they were halting production.

"While these (central bank) moves may go some way to easing any potential blockages in the plumbing of the financial markets, they won't adequately compensate for the upcoming economic shocks that are about to come our way," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.

The scale of the crisis was laid bare by data showing Chinese industrial production for January and February shrank 13.5 percent, the first contraction in around 30 years.

Meanwhile, manufacturing activity in New York state fell to its lowest level since 2009, according to the New York Federal Reserve Bank's monthly industry survey.

Equity markets continue to be whipsawed by the disease, which has now infected almost 170,000 people and killed more than 6,000 with several countries going into lockdown as Europe becomes the new epicentre of the outbreak.

ASIA MELTDOWN

Sydney's stock market led losses in Asia-Pacific, tumbling 9.7 percent in its worst daily drop on record, while Manila shed nearly eight percent and Bangkok and Mumbai dropped more than five percent.

Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei and Jakarta all lost more than four percent. Wellington and Seoul were more than three percent off.

Shanghai tumbled 3.4 percent after the release of the industrial production data, which came a week after news that Chinese exports had collapsed.

Tokyo ended 2.5 percent lower, after a rally sparked by the Bank of Japan's support measures announcement fizzled.

The broad retreat followed a tumultuous week that saw some stock markets suffer their worst days in decades and in some cases their worst ever.

And experts said there was a concern that the Fed might be running on empty with regards to further action.

Sunday's move "raises the question of whether the Fed has anything left in the tank should the spread of the virus not be contained", said Kerry Craig at JP Morgan Asset Management.

"Our view is that the drag on the services sector from social distancing policies and shock from the fall of the oil price on the energy sector will be enough to tip the US into recession, but not necessarily a long one."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Yen, euro gain on dollar as Fed rate cut talks heat up

TOKYO -- The yen and the euro rose against the dollar on Monday on growing expectations that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its policy review this month to protect the economy from the rapid spread of the coronavirus.

As US shares were routed in recent days, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Friday the central bank will "act as appropriate" to support the economy in the face of risks posed by the coronavirus epidemic.

Investors took his comments as a hint that the Fed will cut interest rates by at least 0.25 percentage point at its next scheduled meeting on March 17-18.

There is even increasing chatter of an unscheduled move, with a US bank lobby economist saying a coordinated global interest rate cut by the top central banks could happen as early as on Wednesday.

The expectations around the Fed underscored the speed and scale of the virus' spread from China through to dozens of countries and the potentially crippling blow to the global economy.

Investors expect the dollar's yield advantage - a key support for the US currency - to shrink as the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan are seen having limited room for further cuts given their rates are already in negative territory.

The yen rose to as high as 107 to the dollar in early Monday trade and last stood at 107.75 yen, up 0.3 percent from its levels in New York late on Friday.

The Japanese currency had risen 3.2 percent last week, the biggest gain since July 2016. Japan's current account surplus and the yen's vast liquidity make the yen behave like safe haven asset.

The euro stood at $1.1042, up 0.14 percent so far in Asia, trading near its highest level in almost a month after a 1.7 percent gain last week, the largest in two years.

The common currency's rise stemmed from unwinding of so-called euro carry trade, in which speculators borrow the euro to invest in higher-yielding currencies, market players said.

The safe haven Swiss franc also hit 1-1/2-year high of 0.9610 franc per US dollar on Friday and last stood at 0.9642.

Underscoring investors' concerns, China's official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to a record low of 35.7 in February from 50.0 in January, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Saturday, showing factory activity contracted at the fastest pace ever.

"The data showed the severity of the damage from the coronavirus. If upcoming data undershoots market expectations, that will weigh on sentiment further," said Kyosuke Suzuki, director of currency trading at Societe Generale.

The offshore yuan slipped only slightly to 6.9840 yuan per dollar, down about 0.17 percent in early Asian trade, off Friday's high of 6.9777, its highest since Feb. 17.

But the Australian dollar, often used as a liquid proxy on China, lost 0.34 percent to $0.6485, down 0.34 percent having hit a 11-year low of $0.64345 on Friday.

The New Zealand dollar was also on the defensive after sliding to a decade low of $0.6180 last week. It last traded at $0.6218, down 0.46 percent.

Selling spread to some emerging market currencies.

The Mexican peso and the South African rand both lost more than 1 percent in early Monday trade.

The Turkish lira, which has been weighed by the country's intensifying involvement in fighting in Syria, slipped a tad to record lows.

Among developed market currencies, the pound is seen more vulnerable than its peers at time of major economic crisis as UK's sizable current account deficit meant the country depends on foreign capital.

Investors are also fretting about Britain's negotiations with the European Union over a trade deal and whether a UK budget next month will include much more spending, which many investors say is necessary to boost economic growth.

Sterling traded at $1.2799, down 0.15 percent so far on the day, not far from its 4-1/2-month low of $1.2726 hit on Friday.

The pound stood near its lowest levels since October against the euro and the yen.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Global stocks tumble as gold soars on virus pandemic fears

NEW YORK -- Global stocks were hammered Monday and gold prices soared on safe-haven buying as fears mounted that the new coronavirus would derail economic growth.

Equity bourses were a sea of red, including in Italy and South Korea -- two countries outside of China that have suffered outbreaks of the virus in recent days. In the US, the Dow plunged more than 1,000 points in its worst session in more than 2 years.

"The market reaction is a classic 'sell now and ask questions later,'" said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist for Prudential Financial, who said the selloff reflects fears the virus will dent earnings growth.

Oil prices tumbled on worries about demand, while gold prices on the London Bullion Market spiked to $1,689.31 per-ounce, a level last seen in January 2013, before easing back somewhat as investors sought the precious metal as a safety measure amid the market turbulence.

Investors have been unsettled by the spread of the disease, analysts said.

Italy reported its seventh death from the coronavirus, but officials called for calm and reported the number of infections slowing after a spike over the weekend.

South Korea's K-league postponed the start of the new football season as a leap in cases wrought havoc across its sporting calendar.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization said the new coronavirus epidemic had "peaked" in China but warned that a surge in cases elsewhere was "deeply concerning" and all countries should prepare for a "potential pandemic."

US President Donald Trump on Twitter said the virus "is very much under control in the USA," adding that "stock markets are starting to look very good to me!"

Trump's comments aimed to encourage bargain-hunting after major US indices ended down more than three percent, with all 11 industrial sectors tumbling.

Earlier, European stock markets were a sea of red, with Frankfurt and Madrid falling by 4 percent, Paris shedding 3.9 percent and London losing 3.3 percent.

"The root of the problem is this: there is burgeoning fear that the shutdown effect that has hit China's economy is going to take over elsewhere, dealing another blow to global growth, and earnings growth prospects," commented Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com.

Travel and tourism linked firms were particularly vulnerable, with Sydney-listed airline Qantas plunging more than seven percent, and Air China off by nearly six percent in Hong Kong.

An exception was Gilead Sciences, which surged 4.6 percent following upbeat comments from a World Health Organization official about the company's remdesivir, an experimental drug to treat the virus.

KEY FIGURES AROUND 2200 GMT (6 a.m. Tuesday in Manila)

New York - Dow: DOWN 3.6 percent at 27,960.80 (close)

New York - S&P 500: DOWN 3.4 percent at 3,225.89 (close)

New York - Nasdaq: DOWN 3.7 percent at 9,221.28 (close)

Milan - FTSE Mib: DOWN 5.4 percent at 23,427.19 (close)

Madrid - IBEX 35: DOWN 4.1 percent at 9,483.50 (close)

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 3.3 percent at 7,156.83 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: DOWN 4.0 percent at 13,035.24 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 3.9 percent at 5,791.87 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 4.0 percent at 3,647.98 (close)

Seoul - KOSPI: DOWN 3.9 percent at 2,079.04 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 3,031.23 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 1.8 percent at 26,820.88 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: Closed for a public holiday

Brent Crude: DOWN 3.8 percent at $56.30 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 3.7 percent at $51.42 per barrel

Gold: UP at $1,676.50 per ounce from $1,643.41 late on Friday

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0852 from $1.0847

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2924 from $1.2964

Euro/pound: UP at 83.95 pence from 83.67 pence

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 110.71 from 111.61

Agence France-Presse

World stocks tread water as easing US-China tensions boost yuan

NEW YORK -- Global stocks were range-bound on Tuesday while the yuan advanced against the dollar after Washington said it no longer considered China a currency manipulator and tensions eased between the economic titans.

New York was also rattled by news reports on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump intended to keep most punitive US tariffs on Chinese imports until after the 2020 presidential election.

US stocks finished lower, pulling back from Monday's records, while London rose and Europe edged downward.

The US Treasury announcement on the Chinese currency late Monday came as the two countries prepare to sign the first part of a wider trade agreement that has helped fan a rally in world equity markets.

Washington's decision triggered a sell-off in haven assets, including the yen and gold.

In August, Trump accused Beijing of weakening its currency "to steal our business and factories," re-stating a long-standing grievance.

The dollar slumped to 6.8670 yuan at one point, the lowest level since July, before rebounding somewhat.

"The yuan is the purest and best barometer to gauge the market's view on US-China trade tension," said AxiTrader's Stephen Innes.

"With the yuan strengthening ahead of the 'phase one' deal signing, it's indicating the potential for further improvement in trade relations."

The US reversal of China's status as a manipulator "is a most precise and definitive de-escalation of trade tension to date and provides a less congested road as we pivot to phase two of the broader trade agreement," Innes added.

Still, equity markets were a bit edgy ahead of Wednesday's expected signing of the US-China agreement.

Some investors have been expecting a pullback following the surge in recent weeks that have left the market in what analysts have called an "overbought" condition.

Earlier, Tokyo's main stocks index rose 0.7 percent as the dollar advanced against the yen owing to a rush out of safety -- giving a boost to Japan's exporters.

However, profit-taking saw Hong Kong drop 0.2 percent and Shanghai slip 0.3 percent following recent advances.

KEY FIGURES AT 2145 GMT (5:45 a.m. in Manila)

New York - Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 28,939.67 (close)

New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,283.15 (close)

New York - Nasdaq: DOWN 0.2 percent at 9.251.33 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 7,622.35 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: FLAT at 13,456.49 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.1 percent at 6,040.89 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,774.88 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.7 percent at 24,025.17 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.2 percent at 28,885.14 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 3,106.82 (close)

Dollar/yuan: DOWN at 6.8836 yuan from 6.8938 yuan

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3019 from $1.2989

Euro/pound: DOWN at 85.46 pence from 85.72 pence

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1126 from $1.1134

Dollar/yen: UP at 109.98 yen from 109.95

Brent Crude: UP 0.5 percent at $64.49 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.3 percent at $58.23 per barrel

Agence France-Presse

World stocks at record high as techs lead relief rally

TOKYO -- The world's shares hit a record high on Friday as a relief over de-escalation of US-Iranian tensions quickly prompted investors to bet on faster global growth, especially in the technology sector.

MSCI's broadest gauge of the world's stocks in 49 countries rose a tad to hit an all-time high and its index on Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.18 percent.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.43 percent while Australian stocks rallied 0.67 percent to a record high.

That followed record-setting in the pan-regional STOXX 600 index in Europe and the three major stock indexes on Wall Street.

The S&P 500 gained 0.67 percent, with its technology sector rising more than 1 percent. Apple gained 2.1 percent, helped by news that the sales of its iPhones in China in December jumped more than 18 percent year on year.

Investors welcomed the report as a prelude to the upcoming visit by China's Vice Premier Liu He, head of the country's negotiation team in Sino-US trade talks, to Washington next week to sign a trade deal with the United States.

Liu will visit Washington on Jan. 13-15 and US President Donald Trump has said the so-called phase one deal will be signed on Jan. 15.

"We will have a symbolic event of Sino-US dialogue. Given the current strength of the market, it is hard not to expect this rally to continue for the time being," said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities in Tokyo.

Global shares quickly erased losses that followed missile attacks from Iran targeting US forces in Iraq, as the two countries moved to defuse the tension.

Waning worries about all-out war in the Middle East pushed down gold, safe-harbor currencies and oil.

Gold eased off to $1,552.80 per ounce from a seven-year high of $1,610.90 hit right after Iran's missile attack on Wednesday.

Against the yen, the US dollar traded at 109.52 yen , having hit a two-week high of 109.58 in US trade on Thursday.

The euro stood little changed at $1.1105, having fallen to $1.10915 in the US trade, its lowest in about 2 weeks.

Oil prices were sharply lower from their highs hit in the wake of Iran's missile attack.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell to as low as $58.66 per barrel on Thursday and last stood at $59.51, down slightly on the day, compared to Wednesday's peak of $65.65.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Wall Street ends off day's highs on renewed Middle East tensions

NEW YORK -- US stocks ended higher on Wednesday, but the day's uneven path showed investors' sensitivity to any signs of turmoil in the Middle East, with stocks rising on comments by President Donald Trump and paring gains on reports of blasts in Baghdad.

Trump spoke at a White House briefing after Iran's missile strikes overnight on military bases housing US troops in Iraq. The US president said the strikes had not harmed any Americans and that Tehran appeared to be standing down.

Comments earlier from Iran's foreign minister that the country did not seek an escalation and a tweet from Trump that "All is well!" also helped calm investor jitters.

Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit record intraday highs, but major indexes cut their gains late in the day following reports of two blasts heard in Baghdad. After the bell, Iraq's military said two rockets had fallen inside Baghdad's Green Zone but there were no casualties.

"The measured tones coming out of the Trump administration potentially dialing back from a tit-for-tat reaction on balance is positive, but the market is going to react to minute-by-minute news of increased tensions in the Middle East," said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The Nasdaq registered a record high close and most S&P 500 sectors rose, while the S&P 500 energy index fell 1.7 percent as oil prices slumped.

Global markets have been rattled by concerns about rising tensions in the Middle East after the US killing of influential Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 3.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 161.41 points, or 0.56 percent, to 28,745.09, the S&P 500 gained 15.87 points, or 0.49 percent, to 3,253.05, and the Nasdaq Composite added 60.66 points, or 0.67 percent, to 9,129.24.

Among the day's decliners, Boeing fell 1.8 percent after a 737-800 jet made by the company and belonging to a Ukrainian airline burst into flames shortly after takeoff from Tehran, killing all 176 people aboard.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc slid 5.8 percent after its quarterly profit missed expectations. Shares in rival CVS Health fell 1.3 percent.

On the upside, Lennar Corp ended up 0.8 percent after the No. 2 US homebuilder beat quarterly profit estimates and forecast 2020 homes sales above analysts' estimates as lower home prices and mortgage rates drive demand.

Adding to the upbeat mood, the ADP National Employment Report showed private payrolls jumped by 202,000 jobs last month, well above the 160,000 rise expected by economists polled by Reuters.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.51-to-1 ratio

The S&P 500 posted 6258 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 118106 new highs and 149 new lows.

Volume on US exchanges was 7.78 billion shares, compared to the 7.01 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Nasdaq ends above 9,000 for 1st time, Dow also hits record

NEW YORK -- The tech-rich Nasdaq finished above 9,000 for the first time on Thursday, powering to its 10th straight record on gains by Amazon and other tech giants.

The Nasdaq surged 0.8 percent to finish the post-holiday session at 9,022.39.

The other two major indices also finished at records in a sleepy post-Christmas trading day when overseas markets were closed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.4 percent to end at 28,621.39, while the broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.5 percent to close at 3,230.91.

A report by Mastercard Spending Plus estimated that holiday shopping sales rose 3.4 percent this year, which was better than expected, with e-commerce taking a bigger bite of overall sales.

E-commerce behemoth Amazon jumped 4.5 percent after boasting of another "record" performance this season.

Most other retailers rose at least somewhat, with Gap gaining 1.7 percent, Target 0.3 percent and Walmart 0.1 percent.

Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare said the latest run of records reflects upbeat investor sentiment based on a lower risk of recession anytime soon, a mellowing of US-China trade tensions and accommodative monetary policy.

"In general the market will be supported and there will be an inclination to buy the dip in the absence of negative news shocks," O'Hare said.

Besides Amazon, other tech giants including Apple, Google parent Alphabet and Facebook all gained at least one percent.

But Dow member Boeing remained under pressure, shedding another 0.9 percent after a House investigative committee said earlier in the week that it obtained more records on the 737 MAX showing "very disturbing" signs about the aviation giant's approach to safety, according to a congressional aide.

Meanwhile, oil prices finished at a three-month high following industry data showing lower US oil inventories.

Agence France-Presse

China deal lifts US stocks into record territory

NEW YORK - Wall Street on Monday set records for a third straight day as investors absorbed a new US-China trade deal and Beijing released upbeat economic data.

US and Chinese officials on Friday announced a partial trade deal, with Washington cancelling and reducing tariffs in exchange for Chinese pledges to increase purchases of US exports and reform its trade practices.

All three main US stock indexes finished at records, joining the upward drift in Europe where Paris, London and Frankfurt all posted strong gains. 

Chris Low of FTN Financial told AFP the markets' jubilance may not be entirely justified.

"The best you can say is that it eliminates some of the negative scenarios people were worried about," he said.

"I think the market is rallying simply because the worst case scenario of US-China trade plummeting is off the table."

Officials in Beijing released data showing China had had a better-than-expected pickup in the retail and industrial sectors in November, a spot of good news at the close of a difficult year for the world's second-largest economy.

London's FTSE 100 which benefitted from continued post-election optimism and a dip in the value of the pound.

In the eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index climbed 0.9 percent to close just shy of a record high.

And the Paris CAC 40 won 1.2 percent, briefly breaching the 6,000 points level for the first time in 12 years.

The eurozone's economy meanwhile remained at a near standstill in December, extending the worst quarterly performance since 2013, according to a closely-watched survey compiled by IHS Markit research group.

While the removal of uncertainty surrounding Brexit -- following the Conservatives' commanding victory in last week's British elections -- allowed markets to breathe a huge sigh of relief, analysts urged caution with the saga having some way to run.

"This is just the end of the beginning," noted Quentin Fitzsimmons at T. Rowe Price. 

"The real work of negotiating the UK's future trading relationship with the EU lies ahead and that has the potential to become very complicated."

- Key figures around 2300 GMT - 

New York - Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 28,235.89 (close)

New York - S&P 500: UP 0.7 percent at 3,191.45 (close)

New York - Nasdaq: UP 0.9 percent at 8,814.23 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 2.3 percent at 7,5519.05 points (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.9 percent at 13,407.66 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 1.2 percent at 5,991.66 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: UP 1.1 percent at 3,772.74 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 percent at 23,952.35 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.7 percent at 27,508.09 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.6 percent at 2,984.39 (close)

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3286 from $1.3331 at 2200 GMT on Friday

Euro/pound: UP at 83.82 pence from 83.42 pence

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1139 from $1.1121

Dollar/yen: UP at 109.60 yen from 109.38 yen

Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.2 percent at $65.34 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.2 percent at $60.21 per barrel

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Saudi Aramco hits crown prince's $2 trillion goal as shares soar

RIYADH - Saudi Aramco soared on Thursday above the $2 trillion valuation target sought by the kingdom's de facto ruler as the energy giant's share price surged on its second day of trading.

The valuation milestone, which defies widespread skepticism from investors, was coveted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ever since he first floated the idea of listing the world's biggest oil firm four years ago.

Aramco shares jumped 9.7 percent to 38.60 riyals ($10.3) on Thursday morning -- following a 10-percent rise the previous day -- before paring some gains in the early afternoon.

That boosted the oil giant's market capitalization to over $2 trillion, up from a $1.7 trillion valuation set during its initial public offering, the world's biggest.

Aramco shares on the kingdom's Tadawul stock exchange, which closes at 1200 GMT, are allowed to fluctuate by a maximum of 10 percent each day.

Tadawul witnessed one of its most hectic trading sessions on Thursday, with some 400 million Aramco shares -- worth more than $4 billion -- changing hands.

Thursday is the last weekly trading day in Muslim Saudi Arabia. Trading resumes on Sunday.

Aramco's stock sale is the cornerstone of Prince Mohammed's ambitious strategy to overhaul the oil-reliant economy by raising funds to pour into megaprojects and non-energy industries such as tourism and entertainment.

The $25.6 billion proceeds from the Aramco IPO are expected to be channeled into the coffers of the Public Investment Fund, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which will invest it in mega projects.

'PATRIOTIC DUTY'

Wealthy Saudi families are reportedly under pressure from the government to invest in the Aramco stock, with nationalists calling it a patriotic duty.

Aramco also dangled sweeteners for investors, including guarantees that it will distribute dividends of at least $75 billion a year until 2024 and the possibility of bonus shares if they hold on to the stock.

Once one of the most secretive companies in the world, Aramco opened its accounts this year and announced that it posted $111 billion in net profit in 2018, making it the most profitable company in the world.

The energy giant's valuation was declared to be $1.7 trillion during the IPO process, putting it far ahead of other firms in the trillion-dollar club, including Apple and Microsoft.

And the listing of Aramco, with its huge capital value, boosts the Saudi bourse to the ranks of the world's top 10.

But the scaled-down offering is still a far cry from the blockbuster originally planned by Prince Mohammed.

The much-delayed stock sale, first announced in 2016, was initially expected to raise as much as $100 billion from the listing of up to five percent of the company.

The government's plans to raise additional funds by listing on a major international market are also on hold.

source: news.abs-cbn.com