Category: Market

ISTANBUL: The capacity utilization rate for the Turkish manufacturing industry posted a slight decline of 0.2 percentage points to 77% in April versus March, official figures from the Central Bank showed on Wednesday.

Official Central Bank figures on Wednesday said the utilization in the month was 77% for intermediate goods, as the highest, and the lowest rate was 72.6% for non-durable consumer goods.

Broken down by sector, the highest capacity usage was in the manufacture of paper products at 85.6%, while the lowest, 62.9%, was in leather products.

Capacity utilization rate figures are based on responses to a business tendency survey of local units operating in the manufacturing industry.

The Turkish Central Bank said 1,727 companies responded to the survey this month, and the data does not reflect the bank’s views or predictions.

Source: Anadolu Agency

WASHINGTON: Tesla reported a 55% decrease in net income in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, due to decreased global sales and price reductions.

The American electric car manufacturer said it made $1.13 billion from January through March compared with $2.51 billion in the same period a year ago.

Tesla said that its revenue hit $23.3 billion, down by 9% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year.

The company’s revenue, which declined due to increased competition and slowing demand for electric vehicles, fell below market expectations during the period.

Decline in production, deliveries

While Tesla produced 433,371 cars globally in the first quarter of 2024, it delivered 386,810 vehicles, according to the report.

The company’s vehicle production decreased by 2% on an annual basis during this period, and the number of vehicles delivered also decreased by 9%.

Tesla’s official statement noted that global electric vehicle sales continued to be
under pressure due to many car manufacturers prioritizing hybrids over electric vehicles.

The statement also added that the company invested $2.8 billion in capital expenditure in the first quarter for future growth, including its artificial intelligence infrastructure, production capacity, charging network, and new product infrastructure, while recently conducting cost-cutting efforts to improve operational efficiency.

“Ultimately, we are focused on profitable growth, including by leveraging existing factories and production lines to introduce new and more affordable products,” it added.

*Writing by Gizem Nisa Cebi in Istanbul

Source: Anadolu Agency

ISTANBUL: US mortgage applications decreased last week, while mortgage rates hit their highest level since November 2023, according to a Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) report released Wednesday.

The market composite index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, fell 2.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending April 19. On an unadjusted basis, the index decreased 2% compared with the previous week.

“Mortgage rates continued to move higher last week, reaching their highest levels since late 2023 and putting a damper on applications activity,” Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist, said in a statement.

The average contract interest rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage rate increased to 7.24% last week, reaching its highest level since November 2023, from 7.13% the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, meanwhile, rose to 6.75% from 6.64%.

“Purchase applications declined, as home buyers delayed their purchase decisions due
to strained affordability and low supply,” said Kan.

The MBA survey covers more than 75% of US retail residential mortgage applications.

Source: Anadolu Agency

ISTANBUL: Trkiye’s short-term external debt stock was at $173.6 billion in February, decreasing by 0.9% compared to the end of 2023, the Turkish Central Bank announced on Wednesday.

Particularly, the banks’ short-term external debt increased by 2.2% to $69.9 billion while other sectors’ debt dropped by 4.5% to $57.7 billion.

Short-term foreign exchange loans of the banks went up by 10.9% to $13.9 billion.

“From the borrowers’ side, the short-term debt of the public sector, which consists of public banks, increased by 5.5 percent to USD 36.4 billion and the short-term debt of the private sector decreased by 3.3 percent to USD 91.2 billion,” the bank said.

As of the end of February, the currency breakdown of short-term external debt stock is composed of 51% US dollars, 22.2% euro, 10.8% Turkish lira and 16% other currencies.

“Short-term external debt stock on a remaining maturity basis, calculated based on the external debt maturing within 1 year or less regarding of the original maturity, recorded USD 227
.5 billion, of which USD 19.1 billion belongs to the resident banks and private sectors to the banks’ branches and affiliates abroad,” the bank added.

Source: Anadolu Agency

ANKARA: Oil prices continued their upward trend on Wednesday over robust demand indicators in the US, the world’s biggest oil consumer, indicating some tightening in US markets as the summer vacation season approaches.

International benchmark Brent crude traded at $88.55 per barrel at 10.30 a.m. local time (0730 GMT), a 0.15% increase from the closing price of $88.42 per barrel in the previous trading session.

The American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at $83.46 per barrel at the same time, a 0.12% rise from the previous session that closed at $83.36 per barrel.

The American Petroleum Institute announced late Tuesday an estimated decrease of 3.23 million barrels in US crude oil inventories, against the market prediction of a build of 1.8 million barrels.

The data indicates some tightening in the US markets as the travel-heavy summer vacation season draws near.

If official data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) later on Wednesday reveals a reduction in the amount of gasolin
e and oil stockpiles, prices are predicted to rise even further.

Meanwhile, the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict showed no signs of abating and is continuing to raise geopolitical risks in the Middle East.

Israel is continuing its relentless onslaught for the 201st day despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Since last October, Israel’s offensive has killed over 34,183 people and injured 77,143 others amid a crippling blockade that has left most of the population on the verge of starvation.

Israeli airstrikes on several areas in the Gaza Strip are still in play, including the city of Rafah. This is where Israel insists on invading under the pretext of confronting the last strongholds of the Hamas movement, despite increasing international warnings of catastrophic consequences in an area that hosts approximately 1.4 million displaced people.

Source: Anadolu Agency

ISTANBUL: US-based aircraft giant Boeing posted a net loss of $355 million in the first quarter of 2024.?

In a statement, Boeing said its revenue, including products and service sales, dropped by 7.5% to $16.6 billion year-on-year in the January-March period.

The company’s loss from operations totaled $84 million.

The firm’s revenues from commercial aircraft sales amounted to $4.65 billion, while defense, space and security earnings totaled $6.95 billion.?

Global services’ revenues also totaled $5 billion in the three-month period.

The firm delivered 83 commercial aircraft – 67 units of 737, three units of 767 and 13 units of 787 type planes.

Source: Anadolu Agency

ISTANBUL: The Turkish benchmark stock index closed Monday at 9,645.02 points, down 0.50% from the previous close.

The BIST 100 index started the day at 9,794.74 points, and lost 48.44 points from Friday’s close.

The lowest value of the index for the day was 9,645.02, while its daily high was 9,831.50.

Some 59 indices increased in value by the end of the day, while 40 declined.

The total transaction volume reached 104 billion Turkish liras ($3.19 billion), while the overall value of the index was 8.25 trillion liras ($253.9 billion).

The USD/TRY exchange rate was 32.5090 as of 6.05 p.m. (1505GMT), the EUR/TRY rate stood at 34.6010, while the GBP/TRY traded at 40.0880.

The price of one ounce of gold was $2,341.30, while the barrel price of Brent oil was around $87.

Source: Anadolu Agency

ISTANBUL: Canada’s industrial product price index (IPPI) rose 0.8% in March from the previous month, according to figures released Monday.

The index, which measures the change in the price of domestically produced goods sold by manufacturers, came in line with market estimates.

The figure for February was revised up to a gain of 1.1%, from an increase of 0.7%.

“After four consecutive months of declines, prices for meat, fish and dairy products increased 3.1% in March,” Statistics Canada said in a statement.

Annually, however, IPPI in March was 0.5% lower compared to the same month of last year.

The annual IPPI figure for February was revised to a decline of 1.4%, from a decrease of 1.7%.

Prices of raw materials purchased by manufacturers operating in Canada, measured by the Raw Materials Price Index (RMPI), jumped 4.7% on a monthly basis in March, marking the largest monthly increase since March 2022.

The figure came much higher than the market expectation of a 2.9% gain, after increasing 2.1% in Febru
ary.

Prices for crude energy products rose 8.1% in March, leading the increase in the RMPI, according to Statistics Canada.

On an annual basis, RMPI increased 0.8% in March, recording its first year-on-year increase since September 2023, the agency noted.

RMPI in February showed an annual decline of 4.7% in February.

Source: Anadolu Agency

ISTANBUL: The Turkish central government’s gross debt stock amounted to 7.5 trillion Turkish liras ($232 billion) at the end of March, official figures showed on Monday.

The Treasury and Finance Ministry’s data showed that the figure was up by 67% versus the end of March last year.

The gross debt stock includes the outstanding debt of public sector institutions, the Central Bank, private companies, and households.

Some 36% of the debt stock is denominated in Trkiye’s local currency, while the rest is in foreign currency.

While 3.57 trillion Turkish liras ($110.5 billion) of the debt was domestic, some 3.93 billion liras ($121.5 billion) of it was external, it added.?

The US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was around 32.32 at the end of March.

Source: Anadolu Agency

ISTANBUL: Mexico’s economic activity in February rose 2.6% in real terms at an annual rate with seasonally adjusted series, the country’s statistical authority announced Monday.

Annually, secondary and tertiary activities increased 1.5% and 3.2%, respectively, while primary activities rose 2.6%, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) said in a statement.

On a monthly basis, economic activity posted a 1.4% increase, compared to the month before.

While primary activities jumped 16.5%, tertiary activities rose 1.2%, but secondary activities decreased 0.1% at a monthly rate.

Source: Anadolu Agency