Author: Steven Sahiounie

South Korea’s central bank is likely to maintain its benchmark interest rate at its current 3.5% as core inflation seems sticky, Oxford Economics told CNBC. “I believe that the authorities think that the current settings will be able achieve the slowdown in the inflation that they’re aiming for,” said Sung Eun Jung of Oxford Economics. She added that rate cuts “seem premature,” for the central bank, while pointing to weakened domestic demand adding to bringing down inflation.Oxford Economics is expecting the central bank to cut its benchmark interest rate by the first quarter of next year, she said. South Korea’s…

Stocks in the Asia-Pacific mostly rose on Tuesday as the Bank of Korea held interest rates at 3.5%, in line with expectations. South Korea’s central bank held rates for the second consecutive time as the nation grapples with an inflation rate of 4.2%. South Korea’s Kospi rose further after the move and traded 1.42% higher to 2,547.86 and the Kosdaq inched up 1.26% to 898.94. Bitcoin surpassed $30,000 for the first time since June 2022 while ether neared $2,000. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 traded 1.26% higher to 7,309.9. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.05% to 27,923.37 and the Topix gained 0.78% to 1,991.85, led by technology and consumer…

Bitcoin’s dominance rate, its share of the crypto market, has risen to the highest in almost two years, while ether’s stagnates. Ethereum’s highly anticipated Shanghai upgrade, also called the Shanghai-Capella hard fork, is set to occur Wednesday, after which users will have access to the $31 billion worth of ether (ETH) staked in the blockchain since December 2020. The upgrade has been widely hailed as long-term bullish for Ethereum’s native token. Still, bitcoin (BTC), not ether, is outperforming the broader crypto market and becoming more dominant as the upgrade approaches. Bitcoin’s dominance rate, which measures the largest cryptocurrency’s share of…

Medicines account for a third of exports to the sanctioned country, customs data shows Between March 2022 and February 2023 Switzerland supplied Russia with goods worth 2.9 billion Swiss francs ($3.2 billion), down from 3.5 billion recorded the previous year, the outlet said, citing figures from the alpine nation’s customs service. While trade in sectors like watches and machinery has come to a halt, exports of medicines to Russia hit record highs, data shows. The outlet found that Bern’s exports were dominated by pharmaceutical products, which surged 40% in the reported period. Export of medicines jumped from 1.4 billion Swiss francs…

Russia slashed its oil output in March by 40% more than previously announced, Bloomberg has reported, citing a source familiar with Energy Ministry data. The decline was the equivalent of around 700,000 barrels per day (bpd), the outlet stated. In February, Russia pledged to voluntarily reduce oil production by 500,000 bpd, starting from March. The move was part of retaliation to sanctions, which also saw sales halted to buyers that comply with a Western-imposed price ceiling of $60 per barrel on Russian oil. However, the actual reduction turned out to be 40% higher, Bloomberg reported, citing ministry data. When announcing…

The World Bank will look for solutions to the mounting challenges facing developing countries, the organization’s president, David Malpass, has vowed ahead of its spring session. “Resolving the impasse in debt restructurings, especially for the world’s poorest countries, is going to be at the center of discussions,” Malpass wrote on Sunday in a blog. The World Bank Group-IMF Spring Meetings are set to be held this week. The World Bank president indicated that he will discuss the issue with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and the finance ministers of India, Ethiopia, and Jamaica. “I’m looking forward to discussions of the debt crisis itself…

The total net worth of the ultra-wealthy in the Russian capital exceeds $307 billion, the magazine estimates Moscow has been ranked the world’s sixth most attractive city for the super-rich, as the Russian capital is now home to 61 billionaires, up from 53 in 2022, according to the latest ranking published by Forbes. The total net worth of Moscow’s wealthiest residents reportedly amounts to $307.1 billion, up from $215 billion last year, when the city came in third. New York took the top spot with 101 billionaires, with a collective net worth of $616.8 billion. The Big Apple is followed…

Insolvencies in the Netherlands have been rising amid soaring inflation and energy costs, according to a tracking website The number of bankruptcies in the Netherlands has more than doubled in the first quarter of 2023, the NL Times portal reported on Sunday, citing data by Faillissements Dossier. According to the report, cafes, restaurants, retail shops and online retailers have been the most affected businesses. Some 781 companies and institutions reportedly went bankrupt in the country from January to March, compared to 506 a year earlier. The number of bankrupt cafes and restaurants nearly tripled to 54, the data showed. The…

Coindesk platform data indicated that the value of bitcoin rose during commercial deliberations by more than 5%, to reach $ 30,194 thousand, by five in the morning Moscow time. By 5:22 am Moscow time, the rate of growth of the index accelerated and reached the level of $30,381 thousand (+7.30%). The last time Bitcoin exceeded $30,000 was on June 10, 2022. A few days ago, the newspaper “Kommersant”, citing experts from the largest operator of data processing centers, reported that Russia rose to second place in the world in terms of the volume of capacity involved in cryptocurrency mining (1…

Kazakh Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev said that Kazakhstan has filed claims in international arbitration against companies working to develop the Karachaganak and Kashagan oil fields. “The authorized state body (PSA company) has filed claims in international arbitration against Karachaganak and Kashagan companies. Unfortunately, I cannot comment, the only thing I can say is that these lawsuits are filed in favor of the people of Kazakhstan,” the Kazakh energy minister told reporters on Tuesday. According to the minister, the talk is about claims of $3.5 billion and $13 billion, explaining that “these are not tax disputes. We are talking about the…