Oil Drops as Low Indian Demand Offsets Recovery Optimism May 3, 2021 EnergyNow Media
May 3, 2021
(Bloomberg) Oil prices dipped as traders weighed weaker fuel demand in India against optimism over the global economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.Brent crude fell 0.6% to about $66.50 a barrel in Asian trading. Sales of gasoline in India were the lowest in April since August, while average daily diesel sales were the lowest since October, preliminary data from officials with direct knowledge of the matter show.Separately, the president of the Confederation of Indian Industry urged the government to curb economic activity to counter the growing health crisis. The country is the world’s third-biggest oil importer.
Oil Trades Near $67 as India Demand Drop Curbs Recovery Optimism bloombergquint.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bloombergquint.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Singapore Panel Proposes Shift Away From Libor by End-April (1)
The Southeast Asian financial center still faces challenges in the transition to a Libor alternative, given the limited historical use of the domestic interbank funding market, said Philip McNicholas, Asean FX and rates strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence.
However, as SORA is based on an average of past overnight lending rates, it may bolster the interbank lending market depth and liquidity, producing better and more efficient price discovery.
A spokesperson for the Association of Banks in Singapore said that the banks represented in the steering committee subgroups on business/syndicated loans and consumer products are on track to meet the timelines.
The pandemic is far from over, but Singapore’s biggest bank is already off to the races.
DBS Group Holdings Ltd.’s recent S$1.1 billion ($828 million) purchase of a 13% stake in a rural Chinese bank gives a flavor of the aggressive deal-making investors can expect, as Citigroup Inc.’s exit from retail operations in Asia outside Singapore and Hong Kong puts assets on the block.
The Citi sale couldn’t have come at a better moment. DBS Chief Executive Piyush Gupta must be thinking hard about what he could snag from his former employer: India? Indonesia? Both? He doesn’t have the luxury of time. On its home turf, DBS is relatively safe for now. But new-age virtual banks, one from ride-hailing app Grab Holdings Inc. and another from mobile-games maker Sea Ltd., are coming to Singapore. Grab’s record $40 billion merger with a blank-check company gives it balance-sheet muscle, which it is bound to flex against DBS.