Thai central bank to hold briefing on more baht measures on Dec 9

BANGKOK, Nov 30 (Reuters) – Thailand’s central bank will hold a briefing on Dec. 9 on additional baht measures to be implemented in the next quarter, as the strength of the currency has been driven by both short and long term problems, an official said on Monday.

Next week’s briefing is aimed at adjusting the baht and the financial market environment, said Chayawadee Chai-Anant, a senior director at the Bank of Thailand (BOT).

The baht has been quite volatile and the BOT was monitoring it 24 hours a day, she added.

GardaWorld Announces Extension Of Cash Offer For G4S Plc – Quick Facts

Garda World Security Corp., through its unit Fleming Capital Securities, said its offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of G4S plc (GFSZY.PK,GFS.L) is being extended and will remain open for acceptance until 1.00 p.m. on 16 December 2020.

Stephan Crétier, CEO of GardaWorld, said: “Throughout this process we have not seen a single piece of evidence to suggest that our offer of 190p in cash is anything other than full and fair. The stark truth is that the existence of our bid has been the primary driver of G4S’s share price since our approach to the Board, when it was 102 pence.”

10-year Treasury yield rises despite lingering coronavirus concerns

• Confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the U.S. reached 13,384,650 on Sunday, data compiled by Johns Hopkins University showed.
• National figures for pending home sales are expected at 12 p.m. ET on Monday.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield climbed on Monday despite confirmed cases of the coronavirus across the country surpassing 13 million at the end of last week.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 0.844% at 5:12 a.m. ET, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond fell to 1.571%. Yields move inversely to prices.

Treasurys

Shorter-dated Treasury yields rose even though the surge in coronavirus infections in the U.S. remained a concern, reaching 13,384,650 on Sunday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

November data from the Chicago purchasing managers' index is due at 11:45 a.m. ET on Monday, followed by national figures for pending home sales at 12 p.m. ET and the Dallas Fed manufacturing index at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Auctions will be held on Monday for $54 billion of 13-week bills and $51 billion of 26-week bills.

Pets At Home Group Buys The Vet Connection For £15 Mln Cash – Quick Facts

Pet care business Pets At Home Group (PETS.L) announced Monday the acquisition of The Vet Connection or TVC, a UK-based veterinary telehealth provider, for cash consideration of 15 million pounds.

The consideration is being financed using Pets at Home’s existing cash reserves.

The company expects the deal would broaden its digital capability in trusted advice and pet care solutions.

TVC, founded in 2002, TVC provides on demand, high quality, round-the-clock veterinary telehealth advice, triage and ancillary services to a wide range of customers and their pets. In the year to April 2020, TVC achieved adjusted Ebitda of 0.7 million pounds.

Peter Pritchard, Group Chief Executive Officer, said, “We recognise TVC’s exceptional telehealth capabilities and excellent service levels, as well as the opportunities arising from the scalability of their clinical protocols and proprietary telehealth platform, and look forward to incorporating their capabilities into our existing customer offer – across product, services and subscriptions – to enhance the overall customer experience, and help drive customer acquisition, retention and lifetime value.”

Belarus police detained 313 people at mass protests on Sunday: ministry

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Police in Belarus detained 313 people on Sunday during protests in which thousands marched through Minsk calling for President Alexander Lukashenko to step down, the Belarusian Interior Ministry said.

Belarus has been in a political crisis since a presidential election in August that the opposition says was rigged. The authorities deny vote fraud.

Indonesia’s Doctors Urge Government to Scrap Year-End Holiday

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The Indonesian Medical Association of doctors is urging the government to shorten or scrap the year-end holiday entirely to prevent a resurgence in coronavirus infections.

More than 180 doctors have died in the pandemic so far and health workers are suffering heavy fatigue and exhaustion from work, Chairman Daeng M Faqih said in a briefing on Monday.

“From what has happened, it can be seen that cases rose after public holidays that led to crowds gathering,” Faqih said. “We from the association beg, really beg, for the holiday to be scrapped.”

Covid Vaccine Delays Undermine Indonesia’s Path to Immunity

Indonesia, already the site of Southeast Asia’s largest outbreak, added a record number of confirmed cases on Sunday. That came weeks after many people traveled domestically over a long weekend in October. The government is considering whether to shorten the one-and-a-half week holiday in December to prevent another spike.

Gold Set For Worst Month In Four Years On Vaccine Hopes

Gold declined on Monday and remained on track for its worst month in four years amid investor optimism over a coronavirus vaccine-led economic rebound.

Spot gold fell 0.8 percent to $1,773.36 per ounce and was on track for a 6 percent decline this month, marking its biggest monthly loss since November 2016. U.S. gold futures were down 0.7 percent at $1,776.10.

Global markets were dominated by a surge in risk appetite this month in the wake of Joe Biden’s U.S. presidential win and promising results from large clinical trials testing vaccines to prevent Covid-19.

Biden’s transition to power officially kicked off last week, ending a major uncertainty. On the vaccine front, trial successes from Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. have buoyed hopes that a Covid-19 vaccine is coming soon.

The U.K. government said it has signed a deal for an additional 2 million doses of mRNA-1273, Moderna’s vaccine candidate against Covid-19, bringing the total to 7 million doses for the U.K.

The U.K. now has access to enough doses of Moderna’s vaccine candidate for about 3.5 million people.

The latest numbers show a stabilization in new coronavirus infections in Europe, with Britain and France preparing to ease some of their lockdown restrictions.

Also bolstering sentiment was data showing that China’s factory activity expanded at the fastest pace in more than three years this month.