Business

London Metal Exchange suspends trading in nickel on Tuesday

Published

2 years ago

08/03/2022

MNN

The London Metal Exchange (LME) has suspended trading in nickel on Tuesday.

London nickel prices more than doubled on Tuesday to cross the $100,000-a-tonne level for the first time ever, as tensions in eastern Europe showed no signs of cooling, and growing sanctions against Russia fueled fears of a disruption in supply.

Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange soared 71 percent to $82,250 a tonne by 0755 GMT. Earlier in the session, the prices shot up nearly 111 percent, to a record $101,365.

“Fear of shortages is triggering panic buying,” said Vijay L Bhambwani, head of research at Mumbai-based Equitymaster.

Russia supplies the world with about 10 percent of its nickel needs, mainly for use in stainless steel and electric vehicle batteries.

Russia is the world’s third biggest producer of nickel, noted Benjamin Louvet, analyst at OFI Asset Management. “The impact of such sanctions could be significant, as 37 percent of Russian exports go to the Netherlands and 16 percent to Germany,” he said.

“As sanctions against the Russians got rolled out last week with unprecedented speed, investors found themselves stripping away all Russian output from their supply and demand projections and marking up prices accordingly,” ED&F Man Capital Markets analyst Edward Meir said in a note.

Western nations imposed sanctions on Moscow to isolate it from global commerce and are now considering a ban on Russian oil imports, news of which drove crude prices to a 14-year high on Monday.

Logistics disruptions have also roiled commodity markets.

Inventories of nickel in LME-registered warehouses stand at 76,830 tonnes, their lowest since 2019.

“I think the market will cool off… There’s a lot of supply increase coming in 2022,” said Steven Brown, an independent consultant based in Australia.

That would include a lot of new nickel matte production from Indonesia to drive prices lower near the end of 2022, he added.

Prices of other industrial metals also jumped, with benchmark zinc and tin on the LME rising to record highs of $4,896 a tonne and $51,000 a tonne, respectively.

Source: CGTN

Business

BML announce new MVR 1-mil loan facility without collateral

Published

21 hours ago

06/05/2024

The Bank of Maldives (BML) on Monday officially announced the launch of two new home loan products; the Home Build Loan and the Home Equity Loan.

The new loan facilities have been introduced to cater to the growing customer needs for home construction and renovation, BML said.

The new Home Build Loan has been designed to allow individuals to borrow up to MVR 1 million without any additional security. The facility provides a repayment period of over 15 years, which is ideal in renovation projects or larger home construction projects across the Maldives.

The bank also, for the first time, has introduced Home Equity Loan for existing Home Loan and Financing customers. This new facility enables these customers to borrow up to the repaid amount, or the usable equity, of the primary loans. The Home Equity Loan is offered for borrowings of more than MVR 50,000 with a repayment period of 20 years.

Moosa Nimal, the Director of Retail and SME Banking said, “These products are designed to make access to finance easier for our customers across the country.”

“The new Home Build Loan does not require any additional security and will allow customers to build or renovate homes at the most competitive market rates. Our Home Equity Loan offers our existing home financing customers to access usable equity available on their property, at a low rate of just 10%.”

The newly introduced loan facilities are available for BML Islamic customers as well.

Source(s): sun.mv

Business

MIB signs an agreement to expedite business registration process

Published

3 days ago

04/05/2024

Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and the Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB) has entered an agreement, aiming to expedite and streamline the registering services for businesses. The agreement was signed to enhance the quality of services, ensure information security, and facilitate an efficient registration process.

Following the signing of the agreement, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Mohamed Saeed disclosed that customer data can be readily verified with the assistance of the ministry’s Application Programming Interface (API). The minister stated that this would enable businesses to set up bank accounts in a convenient manner. Regarding this, Registrar of Companies Mariyam Waheed underscored the pivotal role API will play in authenticating businesses to customers and expediting in the verification process.

This initiative will significantly benefit individuals accessing online services from the ministry, fostering economic development within the nation. This marks the first agreement of its kind signed by the ministry.

Business

MTCC reports staggering 82.9% net profit drop

Published

6 days ago

01/05/2024

Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC) has reported a staggering 82.9% net profit decline for Q1-2024.

According to MTCC, it earned just MVR 5.2 million in net profit for the review quarter, which came down from MVR 30.8 million in the last quarter of 2023.

The company’s revenue for Q1-2024 stood at MVR 664.4 million, which is a 15.8% drop from MVR 789.2 million generated in the Q4-2023.

Moreover, MTCC reported a whopping 94.5% decline in its Gross Profit for the review quarter, registering MVR 2.5 million in Q1-2024 compared to MVR 44.3 million.

The operating profit for the review quarter stood at MVR 41.8 million, which is a 26% drop from MVR 56.5 million in Q3-2023.

The net asset value per share dropped from MVR 227.95 in Q4-2023 to MVR 226.98 to Q1-2024, while earnings per share saw a notable decline from MVR 3.83 in the preceding quarter to just MVR 0.65 in the review quarter.

Source(s): sun.mv