Oil prices rose on Friday to their highest in over half a year and snapped a two-week losing streak, buoyed by expectations of tightening supplies.

US job growth picked up in August, but the unemployment rate jumped to 3.8 percent and wage gains moderated, suggesting that labor market conditions were easing and cementing expectations that the Federal Reserve will not raise interest rates this month.

China’s factory activity contracted for a fifth straight month in August, official data showed on Thursday, as pressure mounts on Beijing to offer more policy support to bolster its sluggish economy.

Rice prices in key exporting countries including Thailand and Vietnam have climbed around 20 percent since India, the world’s biggest shipper of the grain, banned shipments of a key variety in July, tightening global supplies.

Chinese exporters are using a complicated currency swap strategy to avoid converting their dollar earnings into yuan for fear of losing out on potential gains in the US currency, official data and conversations with companies show.

Tk 109.5 for purchase, Tk 110 for sell

Russian gas giant Gazprom reported Tuesday an 8.5-fold drop in its net income for the first six months of the year as Europe moves away from Moscow’s energy supplies over Ukraine.

The European Union’s fossil fuel energy production hit a record low in the first half of the year, think tank Ember Climate reported Wednesday, although green sources are struggling to fill the gap.

India has allowed traders to ship out their non-basmati white rice cargoes sitting at ports due to a sudden ban on exports of the category, a government order said late on Tuesday.

An unusually dry August has taken a toll on cereal and oilseed crops in Asia as El Nino intensified, and forecasts for lower rainfall in September are further threatening to disrupt supplies.

Oil prices extended gains on Wednesday after industry data showed a large draw in crude inventories in the US, the world’s biggest fuel consumer, and as a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico kept investors on edge.

The RMG Sustainability Council (RSC) is now covering 1,913 factories

India has allowed traders to ship out their non-basmati white rice cargoes sitting at ports due to a sudden ban on exports of the category, a government order said late on Tuesday.

Toyota Motor (7203.T) was ramping back production at its Japan-based factories on Wednesday after a computer system processing orders for vehicle parts broke down on Tuesday, forcing the closure of 14 assembly plants.

The US dollar ticked up slightly on Tuesday after a strong run though traders held off from large bets ahead of a slew of economic data this week, while the Japanese yen languished near levels that triggered intervention last year.

Ukrainian farmers are not expected to reduce the area of winter wheat they sow for the 2024 harvest despite higher logistics costs due to the wartime export crisis, a senior farming official told Reuters on Tuesday.

China’s factory activity likely contracted for a fifth straight month in August, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday, as weak demand threatens recovery prospects in the world’s second-largest economy and pressures officials to prop up growth.

India’s move to impose a 20 percent duty on exports of parboiled rice has prompted buyers and sellers to postpone shipments of around 500,000 metric tons to after mid-October to avoid paying the tax, three leading exporters told Reuters on Tuesday.

Prices in British store chains rose in August at the slowest pace in nearly a year, according to industry data that offers further relief for consumers hit by high inflation and for the Bank of England which is trying to quash it.

Toyota Motor Corp on Tuesday said it has suspended operations at all 14 of its assembly plants in Japan due to a production system malfunction, bringing domestic output to a standstill at the world’s biggest-selling automaker.