Press Review: Oil prices climb on Libya supply worries

REUTERS
Oil prices climb on Libya supply worries

(Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Monday, after dropping for the past two sessions, as escalating clashes in Libya stoked worries about supply from the OPEC member.

A fire caused by fighting at one of Libya's main export terminals has destroyed 800,000 barrels of crude - more than two days of the country's output, officials said, amid clashes between factions battling for control of the nation..

"Libya, and all the other problems, warrants some kind of risk premium," said Jonathan Barratt, chief investment officer at Sydney's Ayers Alliance. "Oil is at a level where people are happy to build in a risk premium," he said.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/29/us-markets-oil-idUSKBN0K701D20141229

BLOOMBERG

China Money Rate Drops a Fifth Day as Deposit Rules Ease Concern

China's benchmark money-market rate fell for a fifth day in the longest run of declines since October on speculation changes to deposit rules will reduce lenders' precautionary funding needs.

A new People's Bank of China regulation, reported yesterday by the official Xinhua News Agency, relaxes rules on the calculation of banks' deposits and waives reserves requirements for savings of non-deposit-taking financial institutions held at lenders. The changes make a broader cut in reserves requirements unlikely in the near term, Shenyin Wanguo Securities Co. analysts led by Shanghai-based Chen Kang wrote in a research note today.

"Investors who were concerned about the impact of reserve charges due to deposit adjustments will now expect liquidity to be smooth," said Deng Haiqing, a Beijing-based analyst at Citic Securities Co. "The new rule itself delivered a message that the PBOC wants liquidity to remain stable, and will maintain a relatively loose monetary policy overall."

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-29/china-money-rate-drops-a-fifth-day-as-deposit-rules-ease-concern.html

BLOOMBERG

The 94% Plunge That Shows Abenomics Losing Global Investors

Foreign investors have had just about enough of Abenomics.

After pumping record amounts of cash into Japanese shares last year, they've hardly added to holdings in 2014. Inflows are down 94 percent this year to 898 billion yen ($7.5 billion), on pace for the smallest annual amount since the 2008 global financial crisis. The month of April 2013 alone registered almost three times as much foreign investment in the stock market as all of 2014.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-28/the-94-plunge-that-shows-abenomics-is-losing-global-investors.html