On October 21, the National Bank of Ukraine resumed temporarily suspended licenses of SK EKTA LLC (Kyiv), according to the regulator’s website.
Earlier, on August 19 of this year, the National Bank applied a measure of influence to the company in the form of suspension of licenses for insurance activities for violation of mandatory financial standards (solvency, capital adequacy and risk of operations). Violations were discovered based on the analysis of the IC’s reporting for the first quarter of 2022, which the insurer had to eliminate by September 20, 2022.
The company eliminated the violations within the specified period, after which the NBU renewed the licenses, the National Bank said in a statement.
IC “EKTA” was registered in 2018 and specializes in risk insurance.
In the first half of this year, the insurer collected UAH 94.2 million of insurance payments and paid out UAH 6.5 million of insurance payments. The authorized capital is UAH 37 million.
European stock indices are mainly growing on Monday, with the exception of the British indicator.
The composite index of the largest enterprises in Europe Stoxx Europe 600 as of 12:20 Moscow time rose by 0.58% to 398.6 points.
German DAX adds 0.53%, French CAC 40 – 0.52%, Italian FTSE MIB – 0.44%, Spanish IBEX 35 – 0.8%.
The British FTSE 100 loses 0.35% in trading. The international rating agency Moody’s on Friday changed the outlook for the UK rating to “negative” from “stable” due to “growing unpredictability of the country’s political course in the face of deteriorating growth prospects and high inflation.”
At the same time, the agency’s experts noted the stability of the British economy, in connection with which they confirmed the country’s rating at the level of “Aa3”.
On Sunday, it became known that former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will not fight for the post of leader of the Conservative Party and, accordingly, the head of the British government.
This gives ex-Finance Minister Rishi Sunak a good chance of winning, the Financial Times notes.
Other European markets are supported on Monday by signals that the Federal Reserve System (FRS) may slow down the pace of raising the base rate since December.
Meanwhile, business activity in the eurozone continues to weaken. The Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), calculated by S&P Global, fell to 47.1 points in October, the lowest since November 2020, compared with 48.1 points a month earlier, according to preliminary data. An index value below 50 points indicates a decline in activity.
Manufacturing PMI in the euro area in October fell to the lowest since May 2020 46.6 points from 48.4 points a month earlier, the service sector indicator fell to 48.2 points from 48.8 points in September.
In Germany, the composite PMI fell this month to the lowest since the beginning of 2020 of 44.1 points from 45.7 points in September. Indicators of activity in the industrial sector and in the service sector of Germany fell to lows, respectively, since June and May 2020.
In France, the composite PMI fell to 50 points from 51.2 points in September, the index of activity in the industrial sector fell to its lowest level since May 2020. In the UK, the composite indicator fell to 47.2 points from 49.1 points, industrial PMI also fell to its lowest level since May.
The focus of traders this week is the reporting of companies such as HSBC, Credit Suisse, TotalEnergies (SPB: TOT), Unilever and Mercedes-Benz. A total of 118 Stoxx Europe 600 companies will release reports this week.
Shares of Philips lost 2.6% in trading on Monday. The Dutch consumer goods and medical device maker posted a net loss in the third quarter of 2022, worse than analysts’ consensus.
Philips intends to urgently take measures to reduce operating costs, including by cutting about 4,000 jobs worldwide. In addition, it plans to attract a credit line in the amount of 1 billion euros.
Credit Suisse rose 1.4%. A Swiss bank said on Monday it would pay 230 million euros to settle a long-standing case in France concerning violations in cross-border transactions.
Among the growth leaders in Germany are shares of RWE (+1.9%), E.ON (+1.5%), Deutsche Bank (+1.6%), Merck (+1.4%), in France – Engie (+1.6%), STMicroelectronics (+1.56%) L’Oreal (+1.3%).
Shares of Anglo American (-2.8%), Shell (SPB: RDS.A) (-2%), Glencore (-2%), Rio Tinto (-2%), BHP Group (-1.95) are getting cheaper in the UK %), HSBC (-1.5%).
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has put three defendants in the Ukrgasbank (Kyiv) case on the wanted list, including the former head of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Kirill Shevchenko.
“NABU is looking for three officials of JSB Ukrgasbank involved in the theft of more than UAH 200 million. We are talking about the ex-chairman of the board of Ukrgasbank, one of the deputies of Ukrgasbank and the deputy director of the department for working with corporate VIP clients of this state institution,” the press reports. – NABU service.
It is specified that, in addition to Shevchenko, the former head of the NBU, who previously held the post of chairman of the board of Ukrgasbank, Denis Chernyshov, deputy head of the board of the bank, and Olena Khmelenko, deputy director of the department for working with corporate VIP clients, have been put on the wanted list.
It is noted that they were notified of suspicion in early October, but in a special order, since the location of these persons was unknown. Since then, the suspects have ignored calls to the investigator, which is why they were put on the wanted list.
As reported, the anti-corruption authorities of Ukraine exposed the illegal activities of officials of the state-owned Ukrgasbank. Five main defendants in this crime were notified of suspicion, among which was Shevchenko.
According to the prosecutor’s office, it was established that the management of Ukrgasbank, having information about banking service agreements concluded with large customers, used it to steal money.
“For this purpose, bank officials ensured the conclusion of fictitious contracts with individuals and legal entities, who allegedly, being the bank’s “agents”, attracted large clients to it. For such “agent services”, the bank illegally paid “remuneration” to these persons on a monthly basis, “they explained then in the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
The investigation found that during 2014-2020. under this scheme, 52 fictitious agents were groundlessly transferred funds from the state bank in the amount of more than UAH 206 million.
On October 4, Shevchenko announced his resignation from the post of head of the NBU for health reasons. The Rada appointed him to this seven-year term on July 16, 2020, before that he headed the board of the state-owned Ukrgasbank.
On October 7, 2022, the Verkhovna Rada appointed Andriy Pyshny, ex-head of Oschadbank, to the post of head of the NBU.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President of the European Commission have proposed launching a new “Marshall Plan” for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.
This is stated in a joint article published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper.
“We are already thinking about rebuilding the country, even if peace still seems far away. Ukraine needs the prospect that it will be able to grow economically again as soon as the war is over,” the article says.
In their opinion, neither Ukraine nor individual partners are able to cope with the damage received on their own, since the preliminary amount reaches at least 350 billion euros. In this regard, Scholz and von der Leyen proposed launching an “inclusive donor platform” that would allow more transparent allocation of funds to restore the destruction in Ukraine.
Oil prices fall on Monday, despite rising energy demand in China.
The pressure on the market continues to be exerted by the strengthening of the dollar, as well as fears of a recession in the global economy as a result of the rapid tightening of monetary policy by world central banks, Bloomberg notes.
“The high volatility of the oil market will continue as we see both the risks of a recession and the possibility of a supply shortage,” said Zhaojin Futures Co. analyst. Gao Jian.
The cost of December futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange by 8:15 Moscow time on Monday is $92.87 per barrel, which is $0.63 (0.67%) lower than the closing price of the previous session. As a result of trading on Friday, these contracts rose by $1.12 (1.2%) to $93.5 per barrel.
The price of futures for WTI oil for December in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) fell by $0.6 (0.71%) by this time, to $84.45 per barrel. By the close of previous trading, the value of these contracts increased by $0.54 (0.6%) to $85.05 per barrel.
As a result of last week, Brent rose by 2%, WTI – by 0.5%.
Statistical data on the Chinese economy, published on Monday, showed a more significant than expected growth in the country’s GDP in the third quarter. The indicator increased by 3.9% in annual terms after rising by 0.4% in the previous quarter. The consensus forecast of experts polled by Trading Economics called for growth of 3.4%.
The growth rate of Chinese exports in September slowed down to 5.7% from 7.1% in August, while imports grew by 0.3%, the same as a month earlier.
At the same time, China’s oil imports increased to 9.83 million barrels per day, the highest since May, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data from the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China.
Asian stock indices started the working week without any dynamics, while the stock markets of mainland China and Hong Kong went negative on the statistics.
China’s economy expanded 3.9% in the third quarter compared to the same period last year, the State Bureau of Statistics (GSO) said. Thus, the growth rate accelerated significantly compared to 0.4% in April-June. Analysts on average expected an increase of 3.4-3.5%.
China’s GDP in January-September increased by 3%. This is significantly below the target set by the authorities of the country as a whole for 2022 at the level of about 5.5%, experts say.
Retail sales in the country in September increased by 2.5% compared to the same month a year earlier, the CSO also reported. This is the minimum rate of recovery over the past four months. The consensus forecast assumed growth of 3.3%.
China’s foreign trade surplus widened unexpectedly in September, as import growth was significantly weaker than exports. Imports increased by only 0.3% in annual terms, exports grew by 5.7%. Analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal, on average, predicted the growth of the first indicator by 1%, the second – by 4%.
The Chinese Shanghai Composite index decreased by 1.2% by 08:37 Moscow time. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng plunged 5.4% to its lowest in more than thirteen years.
Shares of Internet companies Meituan (SPB: 3690) (-12.4%), Baidu Inc. (SPB: BIDU) (-10.7%) and Tencent (SPB: 700) Holdings Ltd. (-9.2%), as well as the developer Longfor Group Holdings Ltd. (-12.2%).
Retailers Alibaba Group (SPB: BABA) and JD.com Inc. (SPB: JD) lost 10.4% and 11%, respectively.
Among the components of Hang Seng, only six stocks show an increase in value, including HSBC bank (+0.5%), developer CK Infrastructure Holdings Ltd. (+3.4%) and electrical equipment manufacturer Techtronic Industries Co. (+1.1%).
The value of the Japanese Nikkei 225 increased by 0.5% by 08:33 Moscow time.
The stocks of the transport companies Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. have risen most significantly. (+4.4%), Mitsui O.S.K. lines ltd. (+4.2%) and Nippon Yusen K.K. (+3.7%), as well as non-ferrous metal producer Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. (+4.1%).
The South Korean Kospi index added 0.9% by 08:30 Moscow time.
Quotes of securities of one of the world’s largest manufacturers of chips and electronics Samsung Electronics Co. rise by 2.7%, while the cost of automaker Hyundai Motor fell by a similar amount.
The Australian S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.5%.
The capitalization of the world’s largest mining companies BHP and Rio Tinto increased by 2.6% and 1.2%, respectively.
In addition, shares of all four largest banks in the country fell in price: Commonwealth Bank – by 1.2%, ANZ Bank – by 0.2%, Westpac Banking – by 0.6% and National Australia Bank – by 0.7%.
