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Sri Lankan shares closed lower on Wednesday, snapping a six-session winning streak, as losses in financial and industrial stocks weighed on sentiment.

The CSE All-Share index settled 0.41% lower at 22,032.93 points.

Hatton National Bank and Overseas Realty (Ceylon) were among the biggest drags on the index, down 1.2% and 2.8%, respectively, on the day.

Trading volume on the index fell to 171.8 million shares from 249.3 million shares in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover dropped to 4.82 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($14.51 million) from 7.91 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers, purchasing stocks worth 168.9 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading shares worth 4.69 billion rupees, the data showed.

Source: brecorder

NEW DELHI: India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has accused opposition leader Sonia Gandhi of whitewashing historical wrongs by her Congress party in a memoir, sparking a new faceoff between the two sides ahead of key state elections.

Congress party leaders have in turn accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP of trying to create a spectacle and give the book a “political spin”.

Titled “Belonging” and released on Tuesday, the memoir captures Italian-born Gandhi’s journey from her student days in England, where she met her husband and Nehru-Gandhi dynasty scion Rajiv, to her integration into India’s most powerful political family that gave the country three prime ministers.

Gandhi, 79, herself turned down the prime minister’s job in 2004, but her family continues to control the party that has ruled India for periods totalling nearly 55 years since independence from British colonial rule in 1947.

“Sonia Gandhi could have titled her memoir ‘Whitewashing’, instead of ‘Belonging’ because the motive of this book appears to be sugar-coating the historical wrongs perpetrated by the Nehru-Gandhi family, and camouflaging the cardinal sins committed by the Congress party,” BJP spokesperson C.R. Kesavan said in a video statement.

Kesavan cited the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 which erupted after then-prime minister and Sonia’s mother-in-law Indira Gandhi was assassinated by Sikh bodyguards. Nearly 3,000 people were killed.

Rights activists accuse Congress of turning a blind eye and say that some party leaders helped orchestrate the carnage.

Book is personal memoir, Sonia writes

In the book, Sonia describes the riots as a “tragic and shameful chapter”, accusing some officials of looking the other way or even fuelling the violence.

She defends husband Rajiv — who succeeded his mother as prime minister — against allegations of complicity, while acknowledging failures of governance and delayed justice.

Kesavan accused Sonia of trying to “normalise and justify” the notorious Emergency imposed by Indira.

The 21-month state of Emergency in 1975 involved suspending civil liberties, censoring the press and jailing opposition leaders in one of the most controversial periods of India’s history.

Sonia writes that Indira felt increasingly isolated and politically cornered before imposing the Emergency. She says Indira was never entirely comfortable with it but felt compelled to continue it amid the prevailing political turmoil.

Although Sonia has herself not responded to the accusations, she said in the book’s prologue that it is a “personal memoir, one for which politics is the background, a kind of framework”.

A Congress spokesperson did not respond to a Reuters request seeking Sonia’s comment.

Book tops Amazon India bestseller list

The release comes at a time when Congress is leading the charge against Modi’s government over a controversial revision of voter lists, with Sonia’s son Rahul at the helm.

The street protests have emerged as the worst political crisis for Modi since he came to power in 2014, and ahead of elections in the key states of Uttar Pradesh and Sikh-majority Punjab early next year.

The book has dominated social media conversations with posts praising and criticising it in equal measure, mirroring the country’s political divide.

The book has also been covered extensively by newspapers, with many publishing excerpts about major events over the last half a century.

HarperCollins India, which agreed to publish the book after discussions failed between Sonia’s team and Penguin Random House India, did not respond to a request from Reuters seeking comment on how the book had been received.

On Wednesday, the book — considered expensive at 1,299 rupees ($14) — topped Amazon India’s bestseller list.

Source: brecorder

The Pakistani rupee continued its marginal gain against the US dollar, appreciating 0.01% in the inter-bank market on Wednesday.

The local unit closed the day at 276.62, a gain of Re0.03 against the greenback.

On Tuesday, the rupee had closed at 276.65 against the dollar.

Internationally, the US dollar held gains near a two-week high in early Asian trade on Wednesday as a hotter-than-expected inflation report and hawkish comments ​from Federal Reserve officials fuelled bets the central bank will raise rates next ‌month.

The US dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was steady at 102.22, closing in on its highest level since October 28.

The gauge traded ​up 0.5% on Tuesday after data showed US consumer prices increased by ​more than expected in October amid higher costs for food and ⁠accommodation.

The dollar held onto its gains against its major peers in early Asian trading.

The euro and ​the British pound were flat at $1.1168 and $1.3345, respectively. Against the yen, the US ​dollar was unchanged at 158.715 yen.

The Australian dollar was up 0.1% at $0.6870, edging back ‌from ⁠a seven-month low, while the New Zealand dollar was flat at $0.5605.

Comments from voting members of the Federal Reserve’s rate-setting committee signalling unease over high inflation have firmed expectations for further rate hikes, prompting traders to all but abandon bets that the US ​central bank will stand ​pat at its ⁠next policy meeting, which concludes on December 9.

Fed funds futures now imply a 91.9% chance of a 25-basis-point rate hike next ​month, up from 84% a day earlier, according to CME ​Group’s FedWatch tool. ⁠Markets have fully priced out the possibility of a pause and see a 9.1% chance of a larger 50-basis-point move, while assigning better-than-even odds to a second hike ⁠in January.

Oil prices, a key indicator of currency parity, rose on Wednesday from the previous session’s two-month lows, as the market swung between hopes for a de-escalation in the US-Israeli war on Iran and concerns about attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Also on Wednesday, a regional governor said a drone attack caused a fire in the port area of Ust-Luga by the Baltic Sea in northwest Russia, injuring three workers.

Brent futures climbed $1.04, or 1.1%, to $92.53 a barrel at 0420 GMT.

US West Texas Intermediate crude rose 67 cents, or 0.8%, to $86.71.

Source: brecorder

ABU DHABI: Russian, Ukrainian and US officials began a second day of peace talks in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, resuming meetings which Kyiv and Washington depicted on Monday as constructive but produced no early signs of a breakthrough.

Ukrainian and Russian negotiators gave no details after Monday’s US-brokered talks, the first between the two warring sides since February, and Moscow and Kyiv went into the talks far apart on terms for a possible settlement.

“We are starting the second day of the talks,” Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s top negotiator, said on the Telegram app. “First, there will be a trilateral format with the United States and Russia. After that, we will have a separate meeting with the European partners.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who like Russian President Vladimir Putin is not attending the talks, said Monday’s “substantive” discussions had covered humanitarian and security issues, and that a potential summit of Russian, Ukrainian and US leaders could be discussed on Tuesday.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the first day of talks as very productive, without giving details. The second day of talks is the last day when meetings are scheduled.

Trump envoys bring Russia and Ukraine together for first peace talks in 9 months

Despite public optimism from US President Donald Trump, there has been no sign of major compromises or that new issues are being discussed more than 4-1/2 years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russian forces control about a fifth of Ukraine, but territory is not the only issue at stake. Others include future security guarantees, which both sides want, and Moscow’s demands that Ukraine adopt neutral status and not join NATO.

Each said side the other had launched attacks overnight, despite the peace talks being under way.

Russia struck six large electricity substations in Ukraine’s four central regions, Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi said. Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz said Russian jet drones had hit one of its facilities in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, causing a fire and damaging equuipment.

Russia hits two cargo vessels, tanker in Black Sea, IFX cites defence ministry

Drone debris killed two people after hitting an apartment building in Russia’s Smolensk region bordering Belarus, the TASS news agency said, citing the regional governor.

Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had struck a cargo vessel in the Black Sea southwest of the Ukrainian port city of Odesa that was carrying weapons and military equipment for Ukraine’s armed forces.

Reuters could not verify the reports.

New attacks

Trump has intensified pressure on Kyiv to reach a deal, saying it is time for Ukraine to end the war or face “a very bad thing”. Last week he said the war was close to being settled in a “big beautiful agreement”, but he has frequently predicted breakthroughs that have not materialised.

The new American drive for a deal has galvanized European officials into pushing for a place at the negotiating table to seek an end to Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday underlined Moscow’s preference for negotiating a broad European security framework before tackling the specifics of the war.

Zelenskiy speaks to Modi ahead of Ukraine-Russia talks

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said wider security talks should only come after a ceasefire. Lavrov rejected the notion of a truce, saying the Europeans were trying to secure breathing space for Ukraine.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday the Russian delegation in Abu Dhabi had not been in contact with European representatives there, and that no such contacts were planned.

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is being briefed constantly by the Russian delegation about the talks.

There has been no sign publicly that Putin is willing to drop his demand that Ukraine surrender the entire eastern region of Donbas before a peace deal can be struck.

Zelenskiy has repeatedly refused to hand over land that Ukrainian troops have died defending.

Russian advances at the front line have slowed this year, but Moscow has been pounding Ukrainian cities and energy sites, while Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian oil refineries and other infrastructure.

Source: brecorder

LONDON: Copper prices picked up on Wednesday after dropping in the previous session on a recovery in investor sentiment about AI companies and shortages in top metals consumer China.

Benchmark three month copper on the London Metal Exchange gained 1% to $13,796 a metric ton by 1025 GMT, having lost 1.6% on Tuesday and last week recorded its biggest weekly drop since March.

Much of the losses were due to fears that the sweep by Democrats in the US midterm elections would lead to tougher AI regulation, curbing demand in a fast-growing area for copper.

“Stock markets are rebounding so that’s helping underpin metals prices. The tech sector hasn’t collapsed yet and doesn’t look like it wants to,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank in Copenhagen.

Stocks rose on Wednesday as investors focused on a renewed wave of AI optimism after strong results from AI infrastructure firm CoreWeave.

“The stock market is allowing the market to refocus a little more on the fundamentals, which certainly still remain firmly supportive when we look at China.”

Premiums have soared in China for spot physical copper cathode as domestic smelter output declined and arrivals of seaborne metal remained limited.

The Yangshan copper premium, which reflects demand for copper imported into top metals consumer China, remained for a third consecutive day at a record $230 a ton.

LME aluminium bounced by 1.3% to $3,050 a ton after hitting a three-week low on Tuesday, hit by rising exports from China and hopes for an end to the conflict in the Middle East, a key production area for the metal.

The London weakness hit prices overnight on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, where aluminium prices touched an 11-month low.

Declining aluminium stocks in LME-registered warehouses boosted the premium, or backwardation, on the near-term aluminium contract over the LME’s three-month benchmark.

Among other metals, LME zinc rose 1.1% to $3,753 a ton, lead rose 0.1% to $1,879, nickel gained 0.9% to $16,170 and tin added 0.6% to $46,595.

Source: brecorder

DUBAI: Iran will not allow even a single particle of enriched nuclear material to leave the country and there will be consequences in the event of any new US strikes on the Islamic Republic, Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei said in televised remarks.

Rezaei was speaking to Lebanon’s pro-Iranian Al Mayadeen TV after US officials downplayed the need for additional military action against Iran, with analysts noting President Donald Trump’s more conciliatory tone since the Republicans’ defeat in the November 3 midterm elections.

Rezaei has said there are currently no negotiations taking place between Tehran and Washington.

“Any new US attacks will also be met with targeting US bases far away,” he said.

Iran’s Supreme Leader has issued a directive that the country’s near-weapons-grade uranium should not be sent abroad, two senior Iranian sources said in May.

Rubio tells G7 US will keep imposing ‘devastating’ costs on Iran, diplomats say

The IAEA estimates that Iran had 440.9 kg of uranium enriched to 60% — a level far higher than needed for civilian use — when Israel and the US attacked Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025. How much of that ⁠has survived is ​unclear.

Israel, the United States and other Western countries have long accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons. Iran denies the accusation.

Washington has said nuclear issues must be part of any initial negotiations with Iran aimed at ending the war between the two countries.

Iran has sent the United States a nuclear proposal via Qatar, to be discussed only after Washington meets seven demands which Tehran has presented, a senior Iranian official told Reuters last week.

Source: brecorder

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures surged more than 3% on Wednesday, snapping six sessions of losses, as firmer soyoil and key industry data that showed stocks rose less than expected lifted the market.

The benchmark palm oil contract for January delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 151 ringgit, or 3.55%, to 4,407 ringgit ($1,082.27) a metric ton at the close.

The market rallied after stronger overnight soybean oil prices and a smaller-than-expected buildup in Malaysian inventories following the latest Malaysian Palm Oil Board report, said David Ng, a proprietary trader at Kuala Lumpur-based trading firm Iceberg X Sdn Bhd.

“However, market sentiment remains sensitive to movements in soybean oil and export pace,” he said.

Malaysia’s palm oil stocks climbed to a record high in October, surpassing the peak set a month earlier, as another month of bumper output outweighed a rebound in exports. However, the figure was lower than expectations of a stock high of 3.75 million tons in a Reuters survey.

Meanwhile, cargo surveyors estimated that Malaysian palm oil product exports for November 1-10 fell between 1.9% and 2.3% from a month earlier.

Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract rose 1.15%, while its palm oil contract added 2.57%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 1.08%.

Palm oil tracks the price movements of rival edible oils, as it competes for a share of the global vegetable oils market.

The ringgit, palm’s currency of trade, weakened 0.39% against the dollar, making the commodity slightly cheaper for buyers holding foreign currencies.

Oil prices rose about 1% from the previous session’s two-month lows, after Iran’s security chief said Tehran would not allow even a single particle of enriched nuclear material to leave the country.

Stronger crude oil futures make palm a more attractive option for biodiesel feedstock.

Source: brecorder

MUMBAI: The Indian rupee touched its strongest level since April on Wednesday, shrugging off a broadly stronger dollar as foreign inflows into local stocks and price action in the non-deliverable forward market supported the currency.

The Indian rupee ended at 93.69 per dollar, up 0.2% on day and after touching a high of 93.6350 in afternoon trading.

The unit has recovered since hitting a record low of 96.96 in May and threatening to breach it last month. It is now down about 4% year-to-date, nearly halving its losses from its worst point in the year so far.

Traders pointed to broad-based dollar selling interest through the session, with activity in the NDF market too pointing to sentiment around the currency turning positive.

This helped the rupee stave off pressure from a broadly stronger dollar, which was lifted by hot inflation data and hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials.

Traders are now fully pricing in a 25-basis-point rate hike in December, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, and have baked in a slim chance of an outsized 50-basis-point hike as well.

“The case is increasingly building for the Fed to take rates into restrictive territory to slow aggregate demand and bring inflation back to target,” analysts at ING said in a note.

While the prospect of higher policy rates in the US would typically be negative for the rupee, traders are currently more fixated on the pickup in foreign portfolio flows into Indian equity markets.

Foreign investors have poured in nearly $6 billion in November, their biggest monthly purchase since September 2024. On Wednesday, India’s benchmark stock index, the Nifty 50, rose xx%.

The focus will now turn to India’s inflation data for October, due to be released on Thursday.

Annual consumer inflation likely rose to 5.93% in October from 5.54% in September, according to the median forecast in a November 2-6 Reuters poll of 36 economists.

Source: brecorder