Latest news with #US-Sino
Business Recorder
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
Copper hits one-week high on Chinese buying
LONDON: Copper climbed to a more than one-week high on Friday, driven by Chinese buyers, hopes for a US-China trade deal, and higher risk appetite among other investors. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange gained 0.8% to $9,745 per metric ton by 1400 GMT, its strongest since July 9. LME copper has eased from its three-month peak of $10,200.50, hit on July 2, and Chinese participants are buying on dips, Marex senior base metals strategist Alastair Munro said. 'Add to that chatter on wires around a potential US-Sino trade agreement in months surprise remains on the topside.' China's commerce minister said on Friday the country, the world's biggest metals consumer, wants to bring its trade ties with the US back to a stable footing. Hopes for more metals-intensive economic support were buoyed after an official with the industry ministry said China would issue action plans to stabilise growth in the machinery, autos, and electrical equipment sectors. The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 0.7% to 78,410 yuan ($10,922.74) a ton. 'LME copper stocks have been rising, mainly at its Asia warehouses as some traders may be betting on more buying by China with recent price drops,' a Shanghai-based metals analyst at a futures company said. Also supporting the market was higher risk appetite among investors in general as stock markets moved higher, and a weaker dollar. A softer dollar makes commodities priced in the greenback less expensive for buyers using other currencies. US Comex copper futures climbed 1.3% to $5.58 a lb, bringing the premium of Comex over LME copper to $2,554 a ton. Nickel was the weakest performing LME metal on rising inventories and weak demand for the metal mainly used to make stainless steel and electric vehicle batteries. It was up 0.5% to $15,170 a ton after earlier sinking into the red.
Business Times
14-07-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Wealth funds warm to active management – and China – to weather volatility: report
[LONDON] The world's sovereign wealth funds are turning to active fund management and investments in China, while central banks are diversifying reserves to weather a volatile global environment, an Invesco survey of sovereign funds and central banks managing US$27 trillion in assets showed. Still, the US dollar reigns supreme, with the bulk of central banks saying it would take two decades to dethrone it, if ever, as the top reserve currency despite growing concerns. 'Institutions with greater than US$100 billion, so the pretty large institutions, those are the ones that were most interested in moving more to active management,' said Rod Ringrow, Invesco's head of official institutions. Whereas funds liked passive management in predictable market conditions, predictable was 'no longer the case', he added. 'I think that frames the whole approach... in this move to active management'. On average, wealth funds made returns of 9.4 per cent last year, the joint second-best performance in the survey's history. Nevertheless, market volatility and de-globalisation concerns have spiked, and over the 10-year horizon, big worries centre around climate change and rising sovereign debt levels. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Over 70 per cent of the 58 central banks polled, for example, now believe rising US debt is negatively impacting the US dollar's long-term outlook. Nevertheless, 78 per cent think it will take more than two decades for a credible alternative to the greenback to emerge. That is a jump from 58 per cent last year while just 11 per cent of central banks now view the euro as gaining ground compared to 20 per cent last year. China Fomo The survey was carried out between January and March, before US President Donald Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariff announcements and at the peak of excitement around DeepSeek AI's emergence in China. Wealth funds are seeing a major resurgence in interest in Chinese assets with nearly 60 per cent intending to increase allocations there in the coming five years, specifically the tech sector. That number jumps to 73 per cent in North America despite the worsening US-Sino tensions, whereas in Europe it sits at just 13 per cent. Wealth funds, the survey said, were now approaching China's innovation-driven sectors with the 'strategic urgency they once directed towards Silicon Valley'. 'There's a little bit of a Fomo,' Ringrow explained, a view that 'I need to be in China now' as it shapes up to be a global leader in semiconductors, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles and renewable energy. Private credit has also emerged as a key focus for funds seeking alternative sources of income and resilience. It is now adopted by 73 per cent of wealth funds, up from 65 per cent last year, and with half actively increasing allocations. 'This represents one of the most decisive trends in sovereign asset allocation,' the report said. There is also growing interest, especially among emerging market wealth funds, in stablecoins – a type of cryptocurrency that is most commonly pegged 1:1 to the US dollar. Almost half of the funds said that stablecoins were the type of digital assets they were inclined to invest in, although that was still behind the likes of bitcoin, where the share was 75 per cent. REUTERS
Business Recorder
04-07-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
China stocks edge up on signs of de-escalating Sino-US trade tensions; HK slips
SHANGHAI: Mainland China stocks edged higher on Friday, led by gains in banking and steel sectors, as market sentiment was lifted by fresh signs of de-escalation in Sino-US trade tensions, while shares in Hong Kong slipped. The US told GE Aerospace on Thursday that it can restart jet engine shipments to China's COMAC, a source told Reuters, in a further sign of de-escalating US-Sino trade tensions that included concessions from Beijing over rare earths. The United States has also lifted restrictions on exports to China for chip design software developers and ethane producers. Meanwhile, China is reviewing and approving export licences for controlled items and has been informed by the US about cancellations of 'restrictive measures' against China, its commerce ministry said on Friday. At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.41% at 3,475.24 points, while the blue-chip CSI300 index was up 0.41%. The steel sector was among the top gainers in morning session, after China's top leaders pledged to step up regulation of aggressive price-cutting by Chinese companies, as the world's second-biggest economy struggles to shake off persistent deflationary pressures. The CSI steel sub-index gained 1.14% in morning trades. 'It could be a prelude to potential supply side reform 2.0, in our view,' Citi analysts said in a note. 'We see the prolonged PPI deflation and profitability concerns as the motives this time. Steady growth so far this year has also opened room for such an initiative.' Citi identified sectors where reform is most urgently needed, including ferrous-metal processing (mostly steel), fuel processing, chemicals, non-mineral products (including cement, glass) and metal products. In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index was down 0.62% at 23,921.81 points, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 0.42% to 8,611.76 points.
Observer
03-07-2025
- Business
- Observer
US lifts curbs for chip design software due to trade war truce with China
NEW YORK: The United States has lifted restrictions on exports to China for chip design software developers and ethane producers, a further sign of de-escalating US-Sino trade tensions, including concessions from Beijing over rare earths. Synopsys, Cadence Design Systems and Siemens, three of the world's largest electronic design automation (EDA) software developers, said on Wednesday they are restoring access to their software and technology for customers in China. Earlier in the day, the US also sent letters to ethane producers to rescind a restrictive licensing requirement on exports to China imposed in late May and June. The restrictions on EDA software developers and ethane producers were just some of many countermeasures imposed by US President Donald Trump's administration in response to China's export suspension of rare earths and related magnets in April. Beijing's move on rare earths, part of retaliation against Trump's earlier tariffs this year, has upended supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors. The issue threatened to scupper a bilateral trade deal. On Friday, China's commerce ministry said that following talks with the US, the two sides have confirmed a framework under which China will review export applications for controlled items while the US will cancel corresponding restrictive measures. "The US have escalated to de-escalate. They put restrictions on many more items in order to get the Chinese to back off on rare earths," according to a source familiar with discussions inside the US government. "As the US and China continue to hold to this framework agreement, we're gonna see a lot of these restrictions go away. Going back to a status quo, where we were at in Feb/March," said the source, who was not authorised to speak to the media and declined to be identified. EDA RELIEF Siemens said in a statement that it has resumed sales and support for Chinese customers after it was recently notified by the US Department of Commerce that export control restrictions for customers in China were no longer in place. Its shares rose 1.7 per cent after-market open on Thursday. Synopsys expects to complete system updates to restore access and support to Chinese customers within three business days, according to a company letter to staff seen by Reuters. The US Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Long-term restrictions on Chinese access to EDA software would have significantly hampered China's chip design industry. Synopsys, Cadence and Siemens command more than 70 per cent of China's EDA market, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported in April. It was not immediately clear if other countermeasures imposed by the US have been lifted. These include the suspension of licences for GE Aerospace to ship jet engines for the C919 aircraft of Chinese airplane maker COMAC ( and for nuclear equipment suppliers to sell to Chinese power plants.
Indian Express
03-07-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Chip design software firms climb as US lifts curbs on China exports
Shares of Synopsys and Cadence Design Systems jumped on Thursday after the United States lifted export restrictions on chip design software to China, easing major uncertainty around access to the crucial market. The two companies, along with Germany's Siemens, said they were resuming availability of their electronic design automation (EDA) tools for Chinese customers. De-escalating US-Sino trade tensions come as a major relief for the EDA industry's three biggest players with Cadence getting about 12% of annual revenue from China, while Synopsys relies on the country for about 16 per cent of its sales. Synopsys and Cadence rose 6.7 per cent and 5.9 per cent, respectively, in US trading before the bell, and Siemens gained 0.9% in Frankfurt. 'This marks a distinct warming of relations and a small ceasefire in the chips war,' said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown. Washington has, across administrations, attempted to curtail China's access to cutting-edge US technology, seeking to thwart its AI development. Against the backdrop of US curbs, China's semiconductor industry has benefited from subsidies for local production leading to a boom in design activity. Synopsys had in May suspended its annual and quarterly forecasts just a day after issuing them, in response to the US export restrictions on China. The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on whether it would restore its outlook with the restrictions now being lifted. The export restrictions, which were unveiled late in May, would only impact about a month's revenue for Synopsys and Cadence in the current quarter, Mizuho analysts said. Analysts had also warned that Synopsys' $35 billion buyout of engineering software firm Ansys could possibly be delayed or blocked by Chinese regulators as a fallout of the export curbs. Mizuho analysts said with the restrictions now lifted, they expect the 'merger could close by the July 15 deadline, or at the very least, continues to progress toward completion in 2025.'
