Most commodities slumped this week, as traders fretted over downbeat economic data and fears of weak energy demand in the US and elsewhere, analysts said.
“Commodities in general suffered a significant setback ... as concerns over economic growth in the United States again weighed on prices,” analyst David Hart at Westhouse Securities said.
However, those losses were capped somewhat by Friday’s upbeat nonfarm payrolls data in the United States, which is a key consumer of most raw materials.
Meanwhile this week, the star commodities performer was gold, which briefly soared to another record peak, aided by demand for the safe-haven metal.
Trading was shortened because of Britain’s traditional May Day bank holiday on Monday.
OIL: World oil prices slumped, with sentiment hit by weak US economic data, a stronger dollar and concerns over dampening energy demand.
“Poor economic data out of the US and rising interest rate policies in China and India have prompted fears of growth slowdowns across the global economy, and therefore drops in demand, sending oil lower,” CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson added.
On Friday, Brent North Sea crude slumped by more than US$5 to US$105.15 a barrel — reaching the lowest level since Feb. 21. New York crude hit a similar low at US$94.63.
Oil had already plunged on Thursday, with New York crude diving at its fastest pace for two years in the wake of disappointing US jobs data and the stronger US dollar.
It lost more than 8 percent in value as it dropped below US$100 a barrel for the first time since March 16.
Crude futures have also fallen heavily in response to downbeat Chinese economic data and fears over the eurozone debt crisis after the bailout of debt-wracked Portugal.
Prices staged a modest bounceback on Friday in the wake of the upbeat payrolls numbers.
By late Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in June had tumbled to US$112.85 a barrel from US$125.35 on Thursday last week, the last day of the trading week because of the royal wedding the next day.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate, or light sweet crude, for June plunged to US$100.75 a barrel from US$112.64 the previous Thursday.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold enjoyed another historic peak at US$1,577.57 per ounce, but precious metals ended with the week with sharp losses, particularly for silver, which shed 30 percent in value on mounting economic concerns.
“Commodity prices have plummeted over recent days with broad-based price weakness,” Barclays Capital analyst Sudakshina Unnikrishnan said. “A spate of selling provoked by concerns on the health of the macroeconomy, choppy external markets and a stronger dollar have all contributed to risk reduction and a sell-off across commodity markets.”
By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold sank to US$1,486.50 an ounce from US$1,535.50 the previous Thursday.
Silver slumped to US$34.20 an ounce from US$48.70.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum decreased to US$1,789 an ounce from US$1,835.
Palladium slid to US$721 an ounce from US$777.
BASE METALS: Industrial metals slid sharply as traders questioned whether high price levels were justified and stubborn worries about the outlook for Chinese demand.
By late Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months dived to US$8,763.25 a tonne from US$9,384 on Thursday last week.
Three-month aluminum slid to US$2,612 a tonne from US$2,770.
Three-month lead dropped to US$2,287 a tonne from US$2,493.
Three-month tin retreated to US$29,300 a tonne from US$32,150.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by