Gold prices hit fresh record highs this week during a roller-coaster week for commodities, as investors tracked growing expectations that the global economy was heading toward fresh recession.
Prices took a knock on Friday along with stock markets, in part owing to skepticism over a plan to boost jobs in the US, traders said.
“Macroeconomic data and associated sentiment held sway over the trajectory of commodity prices this week and sensitivity to the macro picture remains acute,” Barclays Capital analyst Sudakshina Unnikrishnan said.
The eurozone debt crisis threatens to create pockets of recession and a great degree of uncertainty, a gloomy Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report said on Thursday.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold, seen as a safe bet in times of economic uncertainty, jumped on Tuesday to a record high price of US$1,921.15 an ounce on the London Bullion Market, but fell over the week as profit-taking set in.
By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold was down to US$1,851 an ounce from US$1,875.25 the previous week.
However, the precious metal’s status as a safe haven looked set to strengthen after Switzerland this week shocked markets by weakening its currency.
Silver dipped to US$41.40 an ounce on Friday from US$42.06 last week.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum fell to US$1,842 an ounce from US$1,873.
Palladium decreased to US$748 an ounce from US$785.
OIL: Crude futures retreated as the US dollar rose against the euro and as traders gave a lukewarm response to US President Barack Obama’s plan to fuel jobs growth.
Oil prices closed lower on Thursday ahead of Obama’s jobs speech and despite data showing a drop in US crude inventories of 4 million barrels last week.
The drawdown was not caused by strong demand from US consumers, analysts said, attributing it instead to a temporary disruption of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico caused by Tropical Storm Lee.
By late Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery next month slipped to US$112.19 a barrel from US$113.23 a week earlier.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate or light sweet crude for next month fell to US$86.66 a barrel from US$87.06 a week earlier.
BASE METALS: Base metals were mixed as traders reacted to macroeconomic developments.
“Metals were under pressure as the stronger dollar and lingering concern about the European debt situation continued to weigh on the markets,” MF Global analyst Edward Meir said. “Threats of [mining] strikes kept the losses in copper somewhat in check, but could not dispel the selling entirely.”
By late Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months dipped to US$8,883 a tonne from US$9,025 the previous week.
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
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