Commodity prices were mixed this week in volatile trading as markets tracked a worsening economic outlook and rising expectations that Greece faced a default on its debt.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold’s record-breaking run upward was halted by a stronger US dollar, which made the metal more expensive for buyers holding euros — denting investor demand.
“Although prices might first encounter a soft patch, gold could rally through the US$2,000 mark by year-end,” GFMS said in its Gold Survey 2011. It said it expected this “to mainly arise through further growth in investment.”
By late on Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold fell to US$1,794 an ounce, from US$1,851 the previous week.
Silver dropped to US$39.97 an ounce from US$41.40.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum retreated to US$1,798 an ounce from US$1,842.
OIL: Crude futures rose during a trading week dominated by a weak outlook for energy demand amid slowing economic growth.
“The global economic situation has also dampened oil demand growth,” analysts at research group JBC Energy said in a market note on Friday.
By late Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in November stood at US$113.43 a barrel, compared with US$112.19 for the October contract a week earlier.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) or light sweet crude for October, rose to US$88.11 a barrel from US$86.66 a week earlier.
BASE METALS: Prices of base metals diverged.
On Friday on the London Metal Exchange (LME), copper for delivery in three months fell to US$8,793 a tonne from US$8,883 the previous week.
Three-month aluminium rose to US$2,381 a tonne from US$2,375.
Three-month lead dropped to US$2,404 a tonne from US$2,443.
Three-month nickel advanced to US$21,700 a tonne from US$21,450.
COCOA: New York prices hit the lowest levels this year, striking US$2,776 a tonne, owing to high stockpiles in Ivory Coast and Ghana.
By Friday on LIFFE, London’s futures exchange, cocoa for delivery in December fell to £1,813 a tonne from £1,862 the previous week.
SUGAR: Sugar retreated on expectations that this year’s to next year’s season would see the first major surplus in three years.
Friday on NYBOT-ICE, the price of unrefined sugar for delivery next month slipped to US$0.29 a pound from US$0.291 the previous week.
On LIFFE, the price of a tonne of white sugar for December stood at £708 compared with £767 for the October contract the previous week.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure