SYDNEY, Australia: Asian markets faced a fresh stress test on Monday as a plunge in the Turkish lira lifted the safe-haven yen and blunted risk appetite, although the fallout so far looked to be relatively contained.
The dollar was trading almost 15% higher on the lira at 8.3000 after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shocked markets by replacing Turkey’s hawkish central bank governor with a like-minded critic of high interest rates.
“Erdogan’s decision to fire Governor Agbal, who had sought to instil some price stability and perception of Bank independence, now raises question as to whether the new Governor will look to lower rates while still aim to fight higher inflation,” said Rodrigo Catril, a senior FX strategist at NAB.
The uncertainty was enough to see Nikkei futures ease to 29,280, pointing to an opening drop from the cash close on Friday of 29,792.
Nasdaq futures dipped 0.3% and S&P 500 futures 0.2%. June futures for Treasury 10-year notes edged up just 1 tick, suggesting there was no broad rush to safety.
Investors are still struggling to deal with the recent surge in US bond yields, which has left equity valuations for some sectors, particularly tech, looking stretched.
Bonds had another wobble on Friday when the Federal Reserve decided not to extend a capital concession for banks, which could lessen their demand for Treasuries.
The damage was limited, however, by the Fed’s promise to work on the rules to prevent strains in the financial system.
Monday’s tumble in the lira saw the yen firm modestly, with notable gains on the euro and Australian dollar . That in turn dragged the euro down slightly on the dollar to $1.1880.
After an initial slip, the dollar soon steadied at 108.86 yen, while the dollar index was a shade higher at 92.080 .
Also lifting the yen were concerns Japanese retail investors that have built long lira positions, a popular trade for the yield-hungry sector, might be squeezed out, so triggering another round of lira selling.
Still, analysts at Citi doubted that episode would lead to widespread pressure on emerging markets, noting the last time the lira slid in 2020, there was little spillover.
“In terms of impact on other parts of the high-yielding EM, we believe that will be quite limited,” Citi said in a note.
There was little sign of safe-haven demand for gold, which eased 0.3% to $1,739 an ounce.
Oil prices fell anew, having shed almost 7% last week as concerns about global demand prompted speculators to take profits on long positions after a long bull run.
Brent was off 29 cents at $64.24 a barrel, while US crude lost 24 cents to $61.18 per barrel.
Asian markets cautious as Turkish lira takes a dive
https://arab.news/bxsmk
Asian markets cautious as Turkish lira takes a dive
- Turkish lira skids as Erdogan dumps central banker
- Yen makes modest gains, eyes on Japanese retail investors
AI will never replace human creativity, says SRMG CEO
- Speaking to Maya Hojeij, senior business anchor at Asharq with Bloomberg, Jomana R. Alrashid expressed pride in SRMG platforms that had absorbed and adopted AI
RIYADH: Jomana R. Alrashid, CEO of Saudi Research and Media Group, highlighted how AI cannot replace human creativity during a session at The Family Office’s “Investing Is a Sea” summit at Shura Island on Friday.
“You can never replace human creativity. Journalism at the end of the day, and content creation, is all about storytelling, and that’s a creative role that AI does not have the power to do just yet,” Alrashid told the investment summit.
“We will never eliminate that human role which comes in to actually tell that story, do the actual investigative reporting around it, make sure to be able to also tell you what’s news or what’s factual from what’s wrong ... what’s a misinformation from bias, and that’s the bigger role that the editorial player does in the newsroom.”
Speaking on the topic of AI, moderated by Maya Hojeij, senior business anchor at Asharq with Bloomberg, the CEO expressed her pride in SRMG platforms that had absorbed and adopted AI in a way that was “transformative.”
“We are now translating all of our content leveraging AI. We are also now being able to create documentaries leveraging AI. We now have AI-facilitated fact-checking, AI facilities clipping, transcribing. This is what we believe is the future.”
Alrashid was asked what the journalist of the future would look like. “He’s a journalist and an engineer. He’s someone who needs to understand data. And I think this is another topic that is extremely important, understanding the data that you’re working with,” she said.
“This is something that AI has facilitated as well. I must say that over the past 20 years in the region, especially when it comes to media companies, we did not understand the importance of data.”
The CEO highlighted that previously, media would rely on polling, surveys or viewership numbers, but now more detailed information about what viewers wanted was available.
During the fireside session, Alrashid was asked how the international community viewed the Middle Eastern media. Alrashid said that over the past decades it had played a critical role in informing wider audiences about issues that were extremely complex — politically, culturally and economically — and continued to play that role.
“Right now it has a bigger role to play, given the role again of social media, citizen journalists, content creators. But I also do believe that it has been facilitated by the power that AI has. Now immediately, you can ensure that that kind of content that is being created by credible, tier-A journalists, world-class journalists, can travel beyond its borders, can travel instantly to target different geographies, different people, different countries, in different languages, in different formats.”
She said that there was a big opportunity for Arab media not to be limited to simply Arab consumption, but to finally transcend borders and be available in different languages and to cater to their audiences.
The CEO expressed optimism about the future, emphasizing the importance of having a clear vision, a strong strategy, and full team alignment.
Traditional advertising models, once centered on television and print, were rapidly changing, with social media platforms now dominating advertising revenue.
“It’s drastically changing. Ultimately in the past, we used to compete with one another over viewership. But now we’re also competing with the likes of social media platforms; 80 percent of the advertising revenue in the Middle East goes to the social media platforms, but that means that there’s 80 percent interest opportunities.”
She said that the challenge was to create the right content on these platforms that engaged the target audiences and enabled commercial partnerships. “I don’t think this is a secret, but brands do not like to advertise with news channels. Ultimately, it’s always related with either conflict or war, which is a deterrent to advertisers.
“And that’s why we’ve entered new verticals such as sports. And that’s why we also double down on our lifestyle vertical. Ultimately, we have the largest market share when it comes to lifestyle ... And we’ve launched new platforms such as Billboard Arabia that gives us an entry into music.”
Alrashid said this was why the group was in a strong position to counter the decline in advertising revenues across different platforms, and by introducing new products.
“Another very important IP that we’ve created is events attached to the brands that have been operating in the region for 30-plus years. Any IP or any title right now that doesn’t have an event attached to it is missing out on a very big commercial opportunity that allows us to sit in a room, exchange ideas, talk to one another, get to know one another behind the screen.”
The CEO said that disruption was now constant and often self-driving, adding that the future of the industry was often in storytelling and the ability to innovate by creating persuasive content that connected directly with the audience.
“But the next disruption is going to continue to come from AI. And how quickly this tool and this very powerful technology evolves. And whether we are in a position to cope with it, adapt to it, and absorb it fully or not.”
