The price of crude oil and metals came under pressure this week as investors took their lead from mixed updates on the US economy and the escalating Ukraine-Russia crisis.
OIL: Oil prices retreated on easing supply strains, despite a worsening situation over Ukraine.
Ukraine, a major conduit for Russian natural gas exports to western Europe, is monitored closely by investors who are concerned that a full-scale armed conflict will disrupt supplies and send energy prices soaring.
Photo: AFP
Russia on Friday called an emergency UN Security Council meeting after at least seven people were killed in an Ukrainian military assault on the flashpoint town of Slavyansk, the deadliest day for months in the crisis.
A furious Kremlin said the raid was “leading Ukraine towards catastrophe” and pronounced dead a peace deal struck in Geneva last month to ease the worst East-West confrontation since the Cold War.
Despite the unrest, oil prices were weighed down by official data showing that US crude oil stockpiles last week rose by 1.7 million barrels to 339.4 million — the highest weekly level since 1982 — indicating weaker demand in the world’s largest economy.
That came a day after official data showed the US economy grew just 0.1 percent year-on-year in the first quarter. However, sentiment picked up after official data showed that the unemployment tumbled to 6.3 percent last month, the lowest level since September 2008.
By Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in June fell to US$108.71 a barrel from US$109.46 a week earlier.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate or light sweet crude for June dropped to US$99.93 a barrel compared with US$100.76 for the May contract on Thursday last week.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold and silver retreated, hit by the US Federal Reserve’s scaling back of its huge stimulus program.
“Precious metals are losing their attractiveness as a safe haven despite the Ukraine crisis,” analysts at Commerzbank wrote in a client report.
By Friday on the London Bullion Market, the price of gold slipped to US$1,281.25 an ounce from US$1,301.25 on Thursday last week.
Silver decreased to US$19.17 an ounce from US$19.66.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum increased to US$1,425 an ounce from US$1,418. Palladium gained to US$816 an ounce from US$805.
BASE METALS: Prices fell across the board, weighed down by strains to the Chinese economy.
Although China’s manufacturing activity improved last month, showing increased strength for a second straight month, analysts cautioned over the latest data.
“We do not believe the economy has passed a turning point,” Nomura economist Zhang Zhiwei (張智威) said.
Thursday’s data, the first official reading on the world’s second-largest economy in the second quarter, came after China’s economic growth for the first three months of the year came in at its weakest pace in 18 months.
By Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months slid to US$6,648 a tonne from US$6,766.25 a week earlier.
Three-month aluminum slid to US$1,775.25 a tonne from US$1,856, while three-month lead slipped to US$2,078.25 a tonne from US$2,162.75.
Three-month tin fell to US$22,930 a tonne from US$23,700, three-month nickel retreated to US$18,150 a tonne from US$18,409 and three-month zinc declined to US$2,012 a tonne from US$2,060.50.
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
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