World oil prices spiked this week to a two-year peak above US$104 per barrel, propelled by simmering tensions in the Middle East and North Africa, traders said.
Global financial markets were on edge amid violent protests from Bahrain to Libya, with tensions also heightened by Iran’s reported efforts to send naval ships into the Mediterranean.
“As anti-government protests have spread from Tunisia and Egypt to the streets of Bahrain, Yemen and OPEC member countries Algeria, Libya and Iran, concerns about geopolitical risk and the potential for supply disruptions have returned aggressively to the global oil market,” Deutsche Bank analyst Soozhana Choi said.
“While disruptions have not been reported thus far, immediate market fears center on the fact that these five countries — Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria, Libya and Iran — represent 10 percent of global crude oil production,” she added.
OIL: London Brent oil jumped to US$104.52 per barrel on Wednesday — the highest level since late September 2008 — after Israel said Iran was sending two warships into the eastern Mediterranean.
“The Middle East alone represents 30 percent of global crude oil production; including North Africa the region combined represents 35 percent of global crude oil production,” Choi said.
Since protests erupted in Egypt in late January, the price difference between the New York and Brent contracts has expanded dramatically.
By Friday afternoon on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April stood at US$101.95 a barrel, compared with US$100.75 a week earlier for the March contract.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, Texas light sweet crude for March delivery increased to US$87.14 a barrel from US$86.13.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold hit the highest level since the middle of last month, while sister metal silver rocketed to a new 30-year peak, as investors sought a safe haven amid turmoil in the Middle East and fears over rising inflation.
“A mix of Middle East jitters and inflationary-driven rate-hike speculation continued to bolster the precious metals,” analyst James Moore at TheBullionDesk.com said.
By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold rose to US$1,383.50 an ounce from US$1,364 a week earlier.
BASE METALS: Copper scored a record US$10,190 and tin leapt to an all-time peak at US$32,799 per tonne, before running into profit-taking.
By late Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months dipped to US$9,885.25 a tonne from US$9,910 a week earlier.
COCOA: Prices hit the highest level in more than a year as concerns mounted over political chaos in top producer Ivory Coast.
New York cocoa soared as high as US$3,485 per tonne, setting a level last seen more than a year ago.
By Friday on LIFFE, cocoa for May rallied to £2,249 a tonne from £2,182 a week earlier for the March contract.
On NYBOT, cocoa for delivery in May increased to US$3,465 a tonne from US$3,346 a week earlier for the March contract.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last