Gold and copper prices struck record highs this week, oil benefited from a weaker US dollar and strong Chinese imports, while cocoa futures won support from violence gripping Ivory Coast.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold prices struck a record high US$1,431.25 an ounce on Tuesday when the safe-haven metal was lifted by concerns over the eurozone debt and deficit crisis, but it ended the week lower on profit-taking.
“Renewed eurozone fears continue to keep the market underpinned,” VTB Capital analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov said.
Gold’s rally helped sister metal silver reach its highest point in 30 years, at US$30.70 an ounce.
“The high-altitude flight of precious metals remains unbroken,” Commerzbank analysts said.
By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold fell to US$1,375.25 an ounce at the late fixing from US$1,403.50 a week earlier.
Silver rose to US$28.79 an ounce from US$28.74.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum dropped to US$1,673 an ounce from US$1,718.
Palladium slipped to US$737 an ounce from US$758.
BASE METALS: Copper prices soared to an all-time peak at US$9,091 a tonne on Thursday as traders mulled the chance of the US Federal Reserve launching a fresh round of monetary stimulus.
By late Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months jumped to US$9,030.50 a tonne from US$8,730 a week earlier.
Three-month aluminum climbed to US$2,335.75 a tonne from US$2,322. Three-month lead rose to US$2,416 a tonne from US$2,359.
OIL: Oil prices rose to their best levels in more than two years above US$92 a barrel thanks to a weak US dollar, making crude cheaper for holders of rival currencies and lifting demand.
Prices meanwhile won support late in the week following strong Chinese import data and ahead of yesterday’s meeting of OPEC to set the cartel’s output levels.
China said on Friday that exports and imports hit record highs last month, which analysts said would ramp up pressure on Beijing for further interest rate hikes and a stronger currency.
Oil demand and prices are meanwhile showing a year-end spurt, pushed by global growth and a surprising pick-up in advanced economies, but these pressures should ease in the medium term, the IEA said on Friday.
By late Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in January rose to US$91.40 a barrel from US$90.90 a week earlier.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, Texas light sweet crude for January climbed to US$88.88 a barrel from US$88.15.
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