Commodity markets mostly rallied this week as China lowered interest rates for the first time in more than two years, boosting the country’s demand outlook.
Prices also won support after European Central Bank president Mario Draghi signalled readiness to act quickly to deter deflation, sparking fresh stimulus hopes.
OIL: Crude oil raced higher on Friday after the People’s Bank of China unexpectedly moved to prop up flagging growth in the world’s second-largest economy.
The bank cut its one-year deposit rate by 0.25 of a percentage point to 2.75 percent and reduced the one-year lending rate by 0.40 of a percentage point to 5.6 percent.
Traders also focused on whether OPEC was likely to cut output to tackle recent heavy price falls. Prices began the week on the back foot, sinking over data showing Japan sank back into recession and skepticism that OPEC will reach a deal to cut output.
Oil rebounded somewhat following strong economic reports from the US that offset weak data from China and the eurozone. The market also rose on Friday over hopes that OPEC will overcome internal resistance to trim output.
Despite a drop of more than 25 percent in oil prices since June, OPEC remains divided on whether to take action at its meeting on Thursday in Vienna.
By Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for January stood at US$79.56 a barrel, compared with US$78.77 one week earlier.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate, or light sweet crude, for January rose to US$75.80 a barrel from US$74.92 for the expired December contract a week earlier.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold soared on China’s rate hike and reports of Russian stockpiling, rallying from recent four-year lows and pulling other metals higher.
“A breakout in gold has seen the price clear US$1,200, helped on its way by China’s decision to cut interest rates,” IG analyst Chris Beauchamp said. “Putting more money into the hands of Chinese consumers is bound to give a lift to gold prices, while ongoing reports that the Kremlin is stacking up on gold reserves has emboldened physical buyers.”
By late on Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold rallied to US$1,203.75 an ounce from US$1,169 a week earlier, as silver rose to US$16.30 from US$15.35.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum rallied to US$1,230 an ounce from US$1,178, as palladium increased to US$794 an ounce from US$760.
COCOA: Prices weakened as concerns over the Ebola outbreak continued to dim in key producers Ivory Coast and Ghana. By Friday on LIFFE, London’s futures exchange, cocoa for delivery in March fell to £1,869 a tonne from £1,877 a week earlier.
On the ICE Futures US exchange, cocoa for March eased to US$2,821 a tonne from US$2,822 a week earlier.
SUGAR: Prices fell on the back of favorable growing conditions in Brazil, with additional pressure from the rising US dollar.
By Friday on LIFFE, the price of a tonne of white sugar for March reversed to US$417.50 from US$420.40 a week earlier.
On ICE Futures US, the price of unrefined sugar for March eased to US$0.1596 a pound (0.45kg) from US$0.1599.
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