Aurelia Butler

The government, however, is hoping its measures to promote investment, including a long-term resident visa launched this month, will draw more foreign investors later this year, spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said in a statement.The Southeast Asian country has promoted high-tech sectors and supported electric vehicles to maintain its status as a regional auto production base.In the January-June period, Thai and foreign investment pledges slumped 42% to about 220 billion baht, due mainly to a large power plant project last year, according to the Board of Investment.Foreign investments, which made up 60% of the overall applications in the January-June period, more than halved year-on-year.($1 = 36.34 baht) More

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s retail inflation accelerated to 7% year-on-year in August, driven by a surge in food prices, adding pressure on the central bank to further hike interest rates later this month. The monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised the benchmark repo rate by 140 basis points since May to 5.4%, including 50 basis points last month, aiming to curb consumer demand.Annual consumer price index-based inflation in August was higher than expected, data released by the National Statistics office showed, compared to the 6.9% forecast in a Reuters poll of economists, and above July’s 6.71%. Food inflation, which accounts for nearly 40% of the CPI basket, rose 7.62% year on year in August, compared to a revised 6.69% in July. (Graphic: India’s retail inflation, https://graphics.reuters.com/INDIA-ECONOMY/INFLATION/dwpkrxjmevm/chart_eikon.jpg) The government has imposed curbs on exports of wheat, sugar, and rice to cool local prices as it is worried over the shortfall in rainfall in some parts of the country could drive up food prices.The MPC will hold its next monetary policy meeting on Sept. 30, and is widely expected to raise the repo rate by 25-50 basis points, economists said.Shaktikanta Das, RBI governor said earlier this month that retail inflation had peaked and was expected to moderate to around 5% by the April-June quarter of the next year, citing a fall in international crude oil and other commodity prices.The rise in food and fuel prices has severely hit poor households.”We have cut down spending on vegetables,” said Puspanjali Sahu, a resident of the eastern Indian city of Bhubaneswar. “We are not going out to any eatery, we are not watching movies in the cinema hall.” More

(Reuters) -U.S. stock indexes were set to open higher on Monday as investors positioned themselves for a crucial inflation reading this week that could determine the pace of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.The three major U.S. stock indexes snapped a three-week losing streak on Friday, as investors took advantage of a sharp drop in stock prices that was triggered by concerns over soaring inflation and the impact of tighter monetary policy to curb it.All eyes are on consumer prices data on Tuesday for any signs that price pressures may be easing. Headline inflation is expected to rise at an 8.1% pace over the year in August, compared with 8.5% in July.Core CPI, which strips out volatile factors such as energy and food, is expected to increase to 6.1% from 5.9% in the previous month. A recent retreat in commodity prices, especially oil, has boosted hopes that the worst of price pressures is over.A soft number might revive speculation the Fed will only hike by 50 basis points this month, though it would likely have to be very weak to have a real impact on the hawkish stance taken by most policymakers recently.Money markets are pricing in an 89% chance of a third straight 75 basis point increase by the U.S. central bank on Sept. 21.”Investors expect the CPI data to show a continued decline in inflationary reading, which would be encouraging to investors, since the FOMC meeting occurs only a week later,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research in New York.”Our economists are expecting a 50-basis-point hike at the September meeting though I think the chances of a 75-bps hike are equally possible.”At 8:29 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 25 points, or 0.08%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 12 points, or 0.3%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 32.75 points, or 0.26%.Also aiding sentiment, Ukrainian forces swept further across territory seized from fleeing Russian troops on Monday, as Moscow grappled with the consequences of the collapse of its occupation force in northeastern Ukraine.”With Ukraine now putting Russia on the defense and taking over many of the territory that had been lost, that is encouraging to global investors because it implies that maybe some ceasefire will occur more quickly than earlier anticipated,” Stovall added.Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) Co jumped 6.9% after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the company’s oral treatment for adults with plaque psoriasis. Carvana Co (NYSE:CVNA) gained 7.5% as Piper Sandler upgraded the online used-car seller’s stock to “overweight” from “neutral”, saying it is grossly undervalued.Shares of U.S. chip equipment makers Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ:LRCX) and Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT) fell more than 1% each after a Reuters report of broadening curbs on U.S semiconductor shipments to China. Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) slipped 0.8% in premarket trading after the social media company said that it did not breach any agreement for paying a whistleblower, and that Elon Musk’s attempt to terminate his $44 billion deal was invalid. More

China will implement a variety of measures to stabilise growth, employment and prices, Premier Li said.”China will promote the recovery of consumption as the main pulling force and make greater efforts to boost effective investment, ” Premier Li was quoted by state radio.The world’s second-largest economy narrowly avoided contracting in the second quarter amid widespread COVID-19 lockdowns and weakness in the property market which have dented consumption and factory activity.Li also said China would accelerate building key projects and increase policy bank financing based on the needs of local economies.Recent data showed China’s economy lost further momentum in August, with factory activity extending declines and export growth slowing as demand wanes amid strict COVID restrictions.China’s cabinet last week announced more steps to spur investment, extending a raft of measures to bolster an economy ravaged by COVID-19. More

LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) – Europe felt the chill of soaring energy prices on Monday, with France saying it could not foot all of the extra costs for consumers, while Britain faces a rising risk of recession.The European Union and Britain are battling to mitigate the shock of what some politicians have dubbed an “energy war” with Russia, which has slashed gas exports to Europe after the West imposed sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.The European Commission is set to unveil a package of proposed emergency measures on Wednesday for the 27-nation EU, including a windfall profit levy on energy firms and a life-raft for power firms facing a liquidity crunch.But countries are split over the details and whether to impose a cap on gas prices, diplomats said.Meanwhile, Russia said it was hard to predict the consequences for gas transit to Europe of a new arbitration process initiated by Ukraine energy firm Naftogaz.In France, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said consumers would be protected by new caps on energy prices when the current ones run out this winter, but stressed that households would need to absorb a “small part” of the increased costs themselves.”It would be completely irresponsible to put the burden of these increases solely on the state budget”, said Le Maire, adding there will be a “contained rise in gas and power prices.”In Britain, where inflation has hit a 40-year high of more than 10%, the economy expanded by 0.2% in July compared to June, less than the 0.4% expected. The sharp climb in energy costs hurt demand for electricity and a leap in the cost of materials hit the construction sector.A “disappointingly small rebound in real GDP in July suggests that the economy has little momentum and is probably already in recession,” said Paul Dales at Capital Economics. Meanwhile, as the European Commission drafts the next series of EU measures, Norway warned it against gas caps.’TOO LITTLE GAS'”We’re going into the talks with an open mind but are sceptical towards a maximum price on natural gas,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said on Monday after a call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.”A maximum price would not solve the fundamental problem, which is that there is too little gas in Europe,” he said.Norway, which is a close ally of the EU, has become the bloc’s largest supplier of gas after Russia cut back exports in the wake of the Ukraine war, giving it record income from its petroleum industry as prices soared.While Norway aims to be a reliable supplier of gas to Europe, the Nordic country has said the terms of trade should be determined by negotiations between companies that pump the hydrocarbons and the firms that buy it.In a bid to lower soaring energy bills for citizens and businesses ahead of winter, the bloc’s energy ministers on Friday asked the European Commission to include a gas price cap.But countries disagree both on whether such a cap is needed and what form it should take, diplomats said, with options ranging from a price cap on all imported gas, pipeline flows, wholesale gas trading, or supplies from Russia.The EU’s 27 member states will need to approve the energy measures, possibly at another emergency meeting this month.’UNPREDICTABLE’EU ministers ultimately backed away on Friday from a price cap targeting only Russian gas, which countries including Hungary and Austria had warned could see Moscow cut off the dwindling supplies it still sends west.Russia supplied around 40% of the EU’s gas before its invasion of Ukraine. That share has plummeted to 9%, as Moscow has cut supplies, blaming technical issues caused by sanctions. Naftogaz said on Friday it had initiated a new arbitration proceeding against Gazprom (MCX:GAZP), saying the Russian firm had not paid it for gas transportation through Ukraine on time or in full.”There could be a lot of unpredictable things from both our Western colleagues and the leaders of Ukraine’s gas industry,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.Natural gas flows from Russia to Europe along key routes were steady on Monday morning, while the Nord Stream 1 pipeline remained shut. More