Oil faced a rollercoaster week, striking five-month peaks on news of an unexpected slump in US crude reserves, before sliding as oversupply worries resurfaced.
“After a strong start to the week, with Brent seemingly heading for US$70 per barrel, the recovery in oil prices ran out of steam by Friday,” Capital Economics analyst Julian Jessop said.
Heading into the weekend, markets tracked the US interest rate outlook after a bright non-farm payrolls (NFP) report in major commodity consumer the US.
Traders warned that the Greek financial crisis had the potential to flare up and boost gold, which is seen as a safe bet in times of economic turmoil.
“We remain convinced that the Greek crisis will escalate at some point, boosting gold prices, but the precise timing is as uncertain as ever,” Jessop said.
OIL: Prices soared on Wednesday on news of a shock tumble in US crude stockpiles, with Brent striking US$69.63 and WTI reaching US$62.58 per barrel — the highest levels so far this year.
The latest official US stockpiles report showed crude reserves tumbled 3.9 million barrels in the week to May 1, the first decline in 16 weeks. The outcome confounded market expectations for an increase of 1.5 million barrels.
However, despite the decline, at 487 million barrels of crude, the stockpiles were at their highest level on record for this time of year.
And US crude-oil production slipped only marginally to 9.4 million barrels per day.
The market also declined on Friday on worries over rebounding US shale output.
Oil prices have in recent weeks also won support due to ongoing strife in Yemen and Libya.
However, prices remain well down after plunging almost 60 percent between June last year and the start of this year on the back of a global supply glut.
The problem was exacerbated when the OPEC cartel — which pumps 30 percent of global crude — maintained output levels late last year. By Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in June dipped to US$64.74 a barrel from US$66.19 the previous week. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate or light sweet crude for June slid to US$58.70 compared with US$59.12.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold prices edged higher as dealers digested the US payrolls numbers and the US Federal Reserve’s outlook for interest rates.
The US dollar rebounded slightly on Friday after the US Department of Labor reported the US economy added 223,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate fell to a seven-year low.
However, the monthly jobs report was roughly in line with expectations after March’s sharp fall in job creation. The jobless rate dipped 0.1 percentage point to 5.4 percent.
Analysts said the report, while solid, was likely not strong enough to hasten higher interest rates from the Fed.
By Friday on the London Bullion Market, the price of gold advanced to US$1,186 an ounce from US$1,175.95 the previous week.
Silver firmed to US$16.31 an ounce from US$16.17.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum rose to US$1,140 an ounce from US$1,127.
Palladium increased to US$798 an ounce from US$772.
BASE METALS: Base or industrial metals rose on the weak dollar, but the rally fizzled out on concerns over China’s economic slowdown.
By Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months climbed to US$6,389 a tonne from US$6,343 the previous week.
Three-month aluminum dipped to US$1,899 a tonne from US$1,908.
Three-month lead decreased to US$2,067.50 a tonne from US$2,114.50.
Three-month tin declined to US$16,025 a tonne from US$16,050.
Three-month nickel increased to US$14,180 a tonne from US$13,780.
Three-month zinc rose to US$2,365 a tonne from US$2,324.
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