Aramco profits jump despite attacks as Australia hikes rates again

Saudi Aramco shrugged off attacks on its facilities and posted a profit jump of more than a third for the three months to September, the state oil giant said. The world's top oil exporter reported net profit of $26.9bn a year earlier, and it says the latest quarter came in well above that. Higher crude prices offset the hit to output from the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to the company's own accounting of the period.

Chief executive Amin H. Nasser credited the workforce, the flexibility of Aramco's system and a supply network built over decades for keeping deliveries moving. He warned that geopolitical uncertainty and strikes on key energy facilities kept amplifying a global energy supply crisis during the quarter, with serious implications for energy security. Aramco says it is scouting more overseas storage and alternative export routes to strengthen that network. The result puts the world's biggest oil companies on track for combined profits of around $100bn for the quarter.

Oil prices stayed jumpy. Brent crude climbed $2.38 a barrel, up 2.2%, to $107.15 after the US reportedly launched limited strikes on Iran's Qeshm Island late on Monday. That follows an 11% plunge on Monday to $103.28, after Donald Trump reportedly signalled he would give diplomacy more time. Before the war began on 28 February, Brent traded around $72 a barrel.

In Sydney, the Reserve Bank of Australia lifted its cash rate by 25 basis points, taking it to 4.85% — the highest in 18 years — and said it will do whatever it considers necessary to drag inflation back to target. The board dropped earlier guidance that more hikes would follow, and a narrow 6-3 vote suggested policymakers may be nearing the end of the tightening cycle. Governor Michele Bullock called it 'not the news that many Australians want to hear' but said it would prevent even worse pain later. She said the next move is unclear, noting dissenters flagged downside risks including a weakening housing market and rising unemployment.

Fresh RBA forecasts put headline inflation at 4.5% in the fourth quarter before it eases back into the 2%-3% target band in the second half of next year, with unemployment seen rising above 5% over the next couple of years. Swissquote senior analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya said higher energy prices strengthen the case for more tightening from the Fed and other major central banks, and noted the Bank of England is widely expected to hike by 25 basis points on Thursday.

Over in crypto, Binance said hourly deposits outnumbered withdrawals this morning, a sign flows are stabilising after last week's hack drained $6.3bn of customer assets. The exchange breach has been described as the biggest heist in history, with experts pointing to North Korea as the probable culprit.