Global commodity markets were hit this week by weaker-than-expected manufacturing data in key consumers China and the US, and news of record-high unemployment in the eurozone, but many prices rebounded following the European Central Bank (ECB) interest rate cut and upbeat US non-farm payrolls data.
Commodity market sentiment has been dominated by “a weak China PMI [purchasing managers’ index] reading weighed on commodities and the base metals in particular,” Barclays PLC analyst Sudakshina Unnikrishnan said.
However, the week ended on a more positive note following a strong US non-farm payrolls report. The US Department of Labor reported on Friday that the US economy added a solid 165,000 jobs last month, well above market expectations.
OIL: Prices faced a roller-coaster ride, falling sharply on weak Chinese data before bouncing higher.
Crude futures had tumbled by almost US$2.5 on Wednesday as traders took their cue from fresh signs of economic weakness in the US and China, and after a US inventory report showed crude stocks at their highest point in more than 30 years.
However, the market then spiked by almost US$3 on Thursday and continued to head higher on Friday in the wake of the non-farm payrolls numbers.
“Oil prices have been very closely linked with economic sentiment over the past couple of days, rising and falling in conjunction with how investors judged economic results,” Inenco analyst Gary Hornby said.
Also helping was the weekly US jobless claims report, which came in much better than expected, suggesting some tightness in the jobs market. The Labor Department data showed new claims for unemployment benefits had fallen to a five-year low.
By Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery next month rose to US$102.37 per barrel compared with US$102.35 a week earlier.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate, or light sweet crude, for next month rallied to US$95.83 a barrel from US$92.18.
SUGAR: Prices touched a new three-year low at US$0.1713 per pound, hit by Chinese demand worries and expectations of a record sugar harvest in Brazil.
“Concerns that demand from China may start to diminish because of weak manufacturing data from the country were ... bearish,” analysts at industry publication Public Ledger said.
By Friday on NYBOT-ICE, the price of unrefined sugar for delivery in July firmed to US$0.1745 a pound from US$0.1744 a week earlier.
On LIFFE, the price of a tonne of white sugar for August dipped to US$497.90 from US$501.40.
RUBBER: Prices inched higher amid hopes of a spike in global demand.
The Malaysian Rubber Board’s benchmark SMR20 rose to US$0.2481 a kilo from US$0.246 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],”
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
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained