Oil prices tumbled this week to four-year lows on expectations that OPEC will likely maintain its production ceiling at the cartel’s upcoming meeting, despite ample global supplies of crude.
Crude futures are likely to keep sliding well into next year, held down by weak demand and increased shale production, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday, as Brent North Sea crude struck US$76.76 a barrel — the lowest level since September 2010. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate hit also a four-year low — at US$73.25 a barrel.
Global prices have collapsed by about one-third in value since June and were weighed down further on Thursday after the US said it had produced 9.063 million barrels of oil last week — the highest production since at least January 1983 when official records began.
“Rightly or wrongly, we are seeing price adjustments in anticipation of OPEC not doing anything about global oversupply, or not doing enough,” said Ric Spooner, an analyst at traders CMC Markets.
Dealers are largely expecting the 12-nation organization to decide against reducing output when it meets later this month in Vienna, home to the cartel’s headquarters.
By Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in January stood at US$78.77 a barrel compared with US$83.64 for the expired December contract one week earlier.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate or light sweet crude for next month slumped to US$74.92 a barrel from US$78.99 a week earlier.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold prices were stable after recent heavy losses.
Gold consumption fell slightly in the third quarter as sliding jewelry demand in China offset strong growth in India, sector data showed on Thursday.
Overall demand dropped by 2 percent in the three months ending Sept. 30 to 929.3 tonnes compared with the third quarter last year, the World Gold Council said.
India’s jewelry demand surged 60 percent year-on-year to 183 tonnes, which was the second highest third-quarter on record for the country.
“While the increase is partly reflective of the weakness in Q3 in India last year when the government introduced import curbs and raised import duties, it also demonstrates the resilience of the country’s appetite for gold jewelry,” the council said. “Improved consumer confidence in both the domestic economy and the new government added to the positive sentiment, with strong levels of purchasing being seen in the build up to Diwali” — the popular Hindu “festival of lights.”
In China, jewelry demand slumped 39 percent year-on-year.
By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, the price of gold edged up to US$1,169 an ounce from US$1,154.50 a week earlier.
Silver fell to US$15.35 an ounce from US$15.42.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum slid to US$1,178 an ounce from US$1,198, and palladium dipped to US$760 an ounce from US$763.
BASE METALS: Base or industrial metal prices mostly retreated following poorly received Chinese data.
“All base metals were on the back foot ... as Chinese factory production rose only 7.7 percent in October, disappointing analysts,” brokers Triland Metals said in a client note.
By Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months decreased to US$6,616.50 a tonne from US$6,682 a week earlier.
Three-month aluminum fell to US$2,016 a tonne from US$2,069.
Three-month lead climbed to US$2,020 a tonne from US$2,017.50, while three-month tin dropped to US$19,830 a tonne from US$20,076.
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