Kuwait has restored oil production to 2.9 million barrels a few days after the stoppage of oilmen was settled, reports Saudi business newspaper “Al-Iktisadiya”.
Production of crude fell in Kuwait from 3 million b / d before the strike began last Sunday to 1.6-1.8 (according to various sources) b / d on Wednesday, when it was suddenly halted.
The country is currently refining 830 thousand B / d compared to 930 thousand B / d In the period preceding the action of the workers.
The newspaper reports that the leaders of oil and petrochemical industry trade unions are back for negotiations with authorities of the country to discuss reservation of privileges and benefits for oil workers in the country’s overhauled payroll system.
Modernization of the payroll system, according to the country’s leadership, would make it possible to create more equitable working conditions and reduce public costs.
The newspaper writes that the Kuwaiti leadership stood pat in the negotiations with trade unions, saying that it won’t meet the strikers’ demands “under pressure”.Unions did not achieve its goals, the negotiations began in fact “from a scratch”, and observers do not rule out compromise solutions, provided no industrial actions are launched during the dialogue.
China’s stock market rose in Friday session due to the pick-up of consumer and technology sectors, offsetting declines in commodity companies, but major indices showed the biggest weekly drop in three months.
Reacting to initial losses, “blue chips” index CSI300, which tracks the value of securities of the largest companies traded in Shanghai and Shenzhen, rose 0.5 percent to 3.174,90 points by the end of the session. The index of the Shanghai Stock Exchange Shanghai Composite added 0.2 percent and closed trading at around 2.959,24 points.
Last week the
CSI300 fell by 3 per cent, while the SSEC lost 3.9 percent, showing the worst result since the end of week of January. The index, which tracks the shares of the commodity sector, fell 2.7 percent on Friday after the shares of steel companies, gold and copper producers.
Hong Kong stock market closed Friday in the red, responding to yesterday’s decline in the US stock market for the first time in four sessions due to disappointing quarterly results of US “blue chips”. The index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Hang Seng fell 0.7 percent to 21.467,04 points. Index of Chinese companies traded in Hong Kong, lost 1.4 percent, closing at 9.120,91 points.Week Hang Seng rose 0.7 percent, and HSCI dropped 1 percent.
The Bank of Japan, which introduced a
negative interest rate in January 2016 on deposits of financial companies in the Central Bank, is considering t
he possibility of supporting the banks by providing them with loans at a negative rate, reports Bloomberg, citing informed sources.
According to the sources, this step can be taken simultaneously with a significant reduction in central bank interest rates on deposits in the Central Bank, which now stands at minus 0.1% per annum.
It is most likely that the loans at a negative rate will be issued under the program known as
Stimulating Bank Lending Facility, the sources noted. Currently, banks receive loans under the program under the zero rate.
Experts believe that the addition of such a tool in the arsenal of the Bank of Japan will reflect positively on the national economy. At the same time, banks have already suffered from the introduction of negative rates, may be faced with the requirements of the borrowers to reduce the markup to the agreed interest rates on loans, the sources noted.
