Reuters Financial News

(Reuters) -UBS will absorb Credit Suisse's Securities Research service later this month, wrapping the business into its own research operations, the bank said in a letter seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

China's Country Garden made interest payments on U.S. dollar bonds hours ahead of a grace period deadline, a person close to the firm said, pulling back from the brink of default for the second time in four days and bringing some relief to the country's crisis-hit property sector. China's largest private property developer failed to pay coupons on the bonds totalling $22.5 million due on Aug. 6, exacerbating fears over how much cash it has left and keeping markets on tenterhooks throughout the bonds' 30-day grace periods. Though the amount was modest, failure to pay would have undermined fragile hope in financial markets that China's steady drip feed of policy stimulus was starting to stabilise the economy and its struggling property market. It would also have raised the prospect of default on other dollar bonds as well as creditor calls to accelerate payments, bondholders and lawyers said, while heightening concern of a spillover into the banking system in the world's second-largest economy. Country Garden also offered on Tuesday to extend repayment of eight onshore bonds worth 10.8 billion yuan ($1.48 billion) by three years, according to people with knowledge of the matter and documents seen by Reuters.

NEW DELHI : India’s services sector growth slowed down in August after registering a 13-year high in July, a private survey said, still recording one of the best sales performances over the same period at a time of elevated inflationary pressures. The S&P Global India services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 60.1 in August, from 62.3 in July. The figure stood at 58.5 in June and 61.2 in May.

(Reuters) — Mastercard (NYSE:MA) on Tuesday denied a media report that this fall the payments processing giant is planning to increase credit card fees, which many merchants pay when they accept customers' credit cards.

Urals oil loaded from the state's ports in August, despite a record rise in prices for the grade, traders, LSEG data and Reuters calculations showed.Indian refineries said in August that the Urals discount to the dated Brent benchmark crude had narrowed too much, making them cut purchases of the grade in September. Discounts for Urals oil loading in August narrowed to $5 per barrel and below on a DES (delivered ex ship) basis in Indian ports — a record low since a European Union embargo on Russia's oil. Along with the EU embargo, the G7, the European Union and Australia imposed a $60 per barrel price cap last December on sea-borne exports of Russian crude in retaliation for Russia's war on Ukraine, which Moscow calls a special military operation. The increase in prices for the Russian grade was due to Russia's pledge to cut oil exports in August by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) in cooperation with OPEC+ to balance oil markets.

New Street Research analyst Pierre Ferragu said in a research note Tuesday that the reported Arm Holdings (ARM) IPO range is an «attractive valuation.»

Mastercard and Binance originally announced beta tests in Argentina just one year ago. The card allowed Binance users to convert cryptocurrencies into fiat currency in real-time at the point of purchase.

By Steve Scherer

SoftBank Group's Arm is seeking a valuation of more than $52 billion in its initial public offering as the chip designer heads for the biggest stock market flotation of the year. SoftBank is offering 95.5 million American depository shares of the Cambridge, United Kingdom-based company for $47 to $51 apiece and aims to raise up to $4.87 billion at the top of the range, a regulatory filing showed on Tuesday.

ASEAN Summit in Indonesia and G20 Summit in India this month, chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters on Tuesday as reported by Reuters. 3. In another news, the Japanese PM Fumio Kishida also announced that a 20.7 billion yen ($141 million) emergency fund to help exporters hit by China's ban on Japanese seafood over the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant.

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Xi Jinping's ambitious reform agenda, now seems to be more of a mirage than a miracle, as reported by Reuters. A decade ago, these reforms aimed to steer China towards a Western-style free-market economy driven by services and consumption by 2020.

India's overall auto sales in August registered an annual growth of 9 per cent, marginally lower than previously reported figures, said the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) on Tuesday. The uptick was consistent across multiple vehicle categories, with 2W seeing a 6 per cent increase, PV at 6.5 per cent, Trac rising 14 per cent, and CV up by 3 per cent. Sequentially, the industry saw a 3 per cent growth in total auto retail sales, although the tractor segment experienced a substantial 19 per cent contraction. The three-wheeler (3W) sales jumped 66 per cent on an annual basis in August, setting a consecutive all-time high retail records in the month.The 3W sales for August peaked at 99,907 units, marking a 6 per cent month-over-month growth. «In the PV arena, improved vehicle supply, bolstered by expanded customer schemes, has maintained positive market dynamics. Despite such advances, supply chain bottlenecks persist, particularly in timely deliveries.

Growth in India's dominant services industry lost some steam in August but overall conditions remained strong despite elevated inflationary pressures, according to a business survey that showed exports were at a record high on robust foreign demand. Tuesday's findings, coupled with a sister survey on Friday which found factory growth expanded at its fastest pace in three months, suggest Asia's third-largest economy will be the fastest-growing major country despite slowing global growth. The S&P Global India services Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 60.1 in August from 62.3 in July, lower than the Reuters poll expectation of 61.0. Still, the reading was above the 50-mark separating growth from contraction for a 25th consecutive month — the longest stretch since August 2011. «This spike in international demand supported one of the best sales performances recorded over the past 13 years, and acted as a catalyst for firms to expand their workforces as well as output,» noted Pollyanna De Lima, economics associate director at S&P Global. «Demand strength also fostered a heightened sense of optimism regarding the outlook, boding well for economic growth prospects.» A sub-index monitoring overall demand slowed slightly in August compared to the previous month.

Premier Li Qiang will attend the G20 Summit in India which is scheduled to take place on September 9 and 10 in the national capital, instead of President Xi Jinping. That would make him the second major leader after Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to skip the event.

Asian equities fell on Tuesday as the spotlight remained on China and its efforts to stabilise its stuttering post-pandemic economy, while traders awaited the outcome of a policy meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.75% lower at 511.14, moving away from 515.37, the highest level since Aug. 11 it touched on Monday. China shares clocked their best day in over a month on Monday on the back of fresh measures to help boost the faltering economy.

Reuters, the uncompromising positions on the conflict have resulted in a lack of consensus, to the extent that not even a single joint statement has been reached in the approximately 20 ministerial meetings held under India's G20 presidency this year. Consequently, it falls upon the leaders to navigate these challenges and attempt to find potential solutions.

By Jamie McGeever

(Reuters) — Australia's Westpac Banking (NYSE:WBK) Corp on Tuesday said it was aware of legal proceedings launched by the country's corporate regulator alleging the lender's failure to assist its customers with financial hardship notices between 2015 and 2022.

(Reuters) — Huawei Technologies and China's top chipmaker SMIC have built an advanced 7-nanometer processor to power its latest smartphone, according to a teardown report by analysis firm TechInsights.