Oil prices rose strongly on Friday as traders fretted over supply worries amid violence in Nigeria, the world's sixth-biggest exporter.
Market participants feared fresh outbreaks of violence in the run-up to Nigeria's presidential elections this weekend may disrupt supplies from Africa's biggest crude-producing nation.
New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, closed up a sharp US$1.55 at US$63.38 per barrel after heavy losses the previous day.
PHOTO: AP
In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for June delivery settled up US$0.55 at US$66.49 per barrel.
"Crude futures were firmer today [Friday] ... ahead of the Nigerian presidential elections this weekend," said Michael Davies, an analyst at the Sucden brokerage in London.
"There have been violent demonstrations recently, with the opposition holding a protest rally ahead of the election and during last week's state polls," Davies said.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo called for a crackdown on vote rigging ahead of Nigeria's landmark presidential election yesterday after a campaign plagued by violence.
New York oil prices rebounded dramatically after slumping on Thursday on reports that US refiners were ramping up their production of gasoline, and as the market put lingering Iran-related geopolitical jitters temporarily aside.
The refining news offset data published on Wednesday by the US Department of Energy that showed US gasoline reserves fell 2.7 million barrels last week, the 10th consecutive drop and heavier than forecasts for a drop of 1.9 million.
Dealers are watching gasoline statistics closely before the US summer driving season starts next month, when many US citizens hit the roads for their vacations.
Concerns about Iran's controversial nuclear program meanwhile continued to occupy the market.
The UN atomic watchdog said late on Wednesday that Iran, the world's fourth-biggest crude producer, had started feeding uranium gas for enrichment at a nuclear plant where it has installed more than 1,300 centrifuges.
Pushed by fears Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons, the UN Security Council has already imposed sanctions on Iran for failing to halt uranium enrichment.
Elsewhere, analysts shrugged off market concern that China's impressive economic growth during the first quarter could result in Beijing raising interest rates and thus crimping Asian crude demand.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day