GOLD
Australian output expands
Gold output in Australia, the world’s second-biggest producer, expanded for a second quarter in the period ended September because of higher ore grades, according to mining consultant Surbiton Associates Pty. Production was 69.5 tonnes compared with 67 tonnes in the previous three months, Melbourne-based Surbiton said in a statement. Output was 62 tonnes in the same period a year earlier, it said. Gold climbed 7.6 percent in the third quarter, the first such gain in a year, after a slump into a bear market in April spurred sales of coins, jewelry and bars. Bullion tumbled 26 percent this year amid speculation that the US Federal Reserve will scale back monthly bond buying that helped prices cap a 12-year bull run last year. “The higher production was due to the treatment of higher ore grades and this, in turn, reduced cash costs,” said Sandra Close, a director at Surbiton.
OIL
OPEC expected to sit tight
OPEC is set to meet in Austria this week to decide on the cartel’s oil output against a backdrop of slowing crude demand and unrest in member nation Libya. Supplying about one-third of the world’s oil, the cartel is expected to maintain its output ceiling of 30 million barrels per day when it meets at its Vienna headquarters on Wednesday, even though it is currently producing under the limit. Brent North Sea crude for January, the European benchmark, was at US$110.93 a barrel. OPEC is seen as sitting tight, with its dozen members appearing mostly satisfied by current market prices for crude, as Brent wins strong support from rising unrest in Libya, which has slashed the country’s output.
DIPLOMACY
EAC works on currency
The leaders of five East African countries signed a protocol on Saturday laying the groundwork for a monetary union within 10 years that they expect will expand regional trade. Heads of state of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, which have already signed a common market and a single customs union, say the protocol will allow them to progressively converge their currencies and increase commerce. In the run-up to achieving a common currency, the East African Community (EAC) nations aim to harmonize monetary and fiscal policies and establish a common central bank. Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda already present their budgets simultaneously every June. The plan by the region of about 135 million people, a new frontier for oil and gas exploration, is also meant to draw foreign investment and wean EAC countries off external aid.
INVESTMENT
Israeli stocks rise
Israel’s benchmark stock index rose for a third day as Fitch Ratings raised the country’s credit outlook and after shares in the US and Europe gained. The TA-25 Index climbed 0.6 percent to a record 1.366.04 at 10:29am in Tel Aviv. Bank Leumi Le-Israel Ltd headed for the highest close since August 2011 as third-quarter profit increased. Kuwait’s benchmark index declined 1.1 percent. Fitch, which affirmed Israel’s A rating, raised the country’s outlook to positive from stable on Friday, citing the shrinking deficit as the country cuts debt and boosts tax income. The shekel strengthened against the dollar every day of last week, bringing the gain for the year to 6 percent. The TA-25 gains follow “positive sentiment in the global markets and the rating outlook increase from Fitch,” Daniel Rapoport, head of equity and derivatives at Bank Leumi, said by telephone.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to