Stock indices of the largest countries of Western Europe are falling during the first trading session of autumn.
The composite index of the largest companies in the region Stoxx Europe 600 by 11:10 Moscow time decreased by 1% and amounted to 410.88 points.
The German DAX index falls by 1%, the French САС 40 – by 1.2%, the British FTSE 100 – by 0.9%. The Italian FTSE MIB and the Spanish IBEX 35 are down 0.9% and 0.7% respectively.
Traders in the region are considering the prospect of strong ECB rate hikes at the last two regulator meetings this year. On Wednesday, after the release of data on August inflation in the euro area, which broke a historical record, analysts published forecasts for the European Central Bank to raise rates by 75 bp at the September meeting, and by 50 bp at the October meeting.
At a meeting in July, the ECB raised rates for the first time in 11 years, by 50 bp at once. The base interest rate on loans was raised to 0.5%, the rate on deposits – to zero, the rate on margin loans – to 0.75%.
Retail sales in Germany rose unexpectedly by 1.9% in July compared to the previous month, data from the country’s Federal Statistical Agency (Destatis) showed. The rate of increase in the indicator became the highest since June 2021. Analysts polled by Trading Economics did not expect the index to change.
France’s Pernod Ricard SA, one of the world’s largest spirits producers, is down 1% despite the fact that the company increased its revenue by 21% in fiscal 2022 and raised its dividend by 32%, to 4.12 euros per share.
Shares of mining Rio Tinto PLC fell 2.6% at auction in London. The company has agreed to buy out a 49% stake in Canadian Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. for $3.3 billion.
Papers of the British Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC, which produces hundreds of household chemicals and medicines, lose 4.7% in price. The company’s CEO, Laxman Narasimhan, will step down on September 30. The interim acting CEO will be Nicandro Durante, Senior Independent Director of the Supervisory Board.
The market capitalization of the Swedish investment company EQT AB falls by 3.3%. The company has set the size of the EQT Infrastructure VI fund, which aims to invest in infrastructure projects, in the amount of 20 billion euros.
The drop leaders among the components of the Stoxx Europe 600 are shares of Germany’s real estate alstria office REIT-AG, which shed 14.2%.
PrJSC “Yuzhkoks” (Kamenskoye, Dnepropetrovsk region) in January-July this year reduced the production of metallurgical coke by 22.8% compared to the same period last year – up to 339.1 thousand tons.
A company representative told Interfax-Ukraine that in July the company produced 34,400 tons of metallurgical coke.
At the same time, he added that in January-July 2022, the production of gross coke with 6% moisture content amounted to 392.8 thousand tons, including 39.9 thousand tons in July.
The plant produced 439 thousand tons of coke in seven months of 2021, including 62 thousand tons in July 2021.
During this period, 446.8 thousand tons of domestic coal were supplied to the enterprise, 54 thousand tons from Russia (before the war) and 45 thousand tons from the USA. In July, only domestically mined coal was supplied in the amount of 46,000 tons.
As reported, in January-July this year, Ukrainian Coke Plants reduced the production of 6% moisture gross coke by 53.4% compared to the same period last year – to 2.682 million tons, in July 224.4 thousand tons were produced. Including for 7 months-2022, the production of metallurgical coke amounted to 2.3 million tons, in July – 191.8 thousand tons.
Ukraine in 2021 reduced the production of coke by 1.3% compared to 2020 – to 9.543 million tons.
The authorized capital of PJSC “Yuzhkoks” is UAH 171.918 million, the par value of the share is UAH 0.25.
Agroholding Continental Farmers Group has completed the harvest of winter barley, wheat and rapeseed from a total area of 86.2 thousand hectares, a total of 446 thousand tons of crops have been harvested, follows from its press release on Thursday.
It is specified that the yield indicators for this season exceeded the planned ones. The average yield of barley was 6.37 tons/ha, wheat – 6.23 tons/ha, rapeseed – 3.56 tons/ha.
“We have crossed the equator of this year’s harvest – the first wave has been completed with a good result. We are satisfied with the yield for all crops, because there were certain risks due to the dry spring. We ship the harvested products to our own elevators, which we prepared earlier. Given the favorable weather, the other day we started digging potatoes,” the agricultural holding quotes its COO Vitaliy Stavnichuk.
In addition, Continental has begun sowing winter crops for the 2023 harvest – sowing of rapeseed on an area of 35.2 thousand hectares is nearing completion. It is also planned to sow winter wheat on 42.3 thousand hectares, and barley on 16.1 thousand hectares.
“Due to the weather conditions during this sowing period, maximum emphasis is placed on moisture conservation. Production technologies are used depending on the type of seeders involved in the work. This is either classic cultivation with Horsch Tiger cultivators and sowing with Horsch Pronto seeders, or conditional direct sowing, carried out immediately after harvesting wheat and barley with Horsch Focus and Claydon Hybrid 6T seeders,” the agricultural holding said in a press release.
“Continental Farmers Group” grows potato chips, seed and food varieties in Lviv and Ternopil regions. The total area under potatoes in 2020 amounted to 1.6 thousand hectares, in 2021 – 1.8 thousand hectares, with a total land bank of the group of companies of 195 thousand hectares in the western regions of Ukraine.
Agroholding Mriya and CFG, united under the name Continental Farmers Group, have been operating as a single business since November 2018, when Mriya entered into a deal with international investor Salic UK to sell assets.
Salic was founded in 2012. Its sole shareholder is the State Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. Invests in the production of agricultural and livestock products.
The stock markets of the largest countries in the Asia-Pacific region are falling at the auction on Thursday on the continuing fears about the rise in interest rates by the central banks of the world.
Global equity markets have come under pressure this week following the annual economic symposium at Jackson Hole, during which Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and a number of European Central Bank officials called for – despite the risks of a recession – to raise rates to a level that will control inflation.
“At some point, central banks will realize that inflation remains high despite the increase in interest rates, and they will stop,” said Clifford Bennett, chief economist at ACY Securities.
The Hong Kong Hang Seng index fell by 1.7% by 08:20 Moscow time, the Chinese Shanghai Composite index by 0.1%.
Among the leaders of the decline in quotations on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange are shares of the Internet company Meituan (-5.2%), casino operator Sands China Ltd. (-5%), automaker BYD Co. Ltd. (-4.9%) and restaurant chain owner Haidilao International Holding Ltd. (-3.9%).
China’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 49.5 in August from 50.4 in the previous month, according to data from Caixin Media Co. and S&P Global, which calculate the value of the indicator.
A PMI value above 50 points indicates an increase in activity in the sector, below – its weakening. Analysts had expected a less significant fall, on average, to 50.2 points, according to a Trading Economics poll.
Meanwhile, Caixin and S&P Global’s reading came close to the official manufacturing PMI estimate of 49.4 released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics a day earlier.
The value of the Japanese Nikkei 225 index decreased by 1.6% by 8:30 Moscow time.
Among the components of the index, shares of the chemical Unitika Ltd. are the most actively depreciating. (-4.6%), trading Marubeni Corp. (-4%) and engineering Denso Corp. (-3.9%).
Papers of the media company Kadokawa Corp. rise by 5% on the news that its IT division – FromSoftware Inc. – invested in Sony Group Corp. and Tencent Holdings Ltd.
The South Korean index Kospi by 8:35 Moscow time fell by 1.8%.
Shares of one of the world’s largest manufacturers of chips and consumer electronics Samsung Electronics Co. cheaper by 2%, automaker Kia Corp. – by 0.3%.
The South Korean economy in the second quarter of 2022 grew by 2.9% compared to the same period last year, showed the final data of the Bank of Korea. Compared to the first quarter of 2022, the country’s GDP increased by 0.7%.
Both estimates coincided with preliminary data.
The Australian S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.7%.
The market value of the world’s largest mining companies BHP and Rio Tinto falls by 1% and 1.3% respectively.
Insurance companies of Ukraine in January-June 2022 collected net premiums in the amount of UAH 17.721 billion (which is 24.6% less than in the same period in 2021 (UAH 23.480 billion), according to the main performance indicators of insurance companies companies (by institutions) for the first half of 2022, published on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
According to the regulator, the volume of written insurance premiums collected by insurers for the specified period amounted to UAH 17.608 billion, which is 28.9% less compared to the first half of 2021 (UAH 24.780 billion).
In six months, insurers paid UAH 5.934 billion of insurance claims (which is 30.6% less than in the first half of a year earlier (UAH 8.552 billion).
As of June 30, 2022, the assets of Ukrainian insurers on the balance sheet amounted to UAH 65.474 billion, while as of the same date a year earlier – UAH 65.186 billion
The regulator also reports that in the first half of the year the volume of formed insurance reserves increased by 4% – up to UAH 36.438 billion.
According to the NBU, the total number of insurance companies in Ukraine as of June 30, 2022 is 137, while as of the same date a year earlier it was 181.
Ratio of fertility and mortality by region in Jan 2022
SSC of Ukraine
