World oil prices rallied this week, supported by a drop in US stockpiles, while traders on the metals markets took their lead from movements in the US dollar and Chinese data.
OIL: Crude futures rallied as data showed a much bigger-than-expected drop in US crude inventories, while OPEC said demand would pick up.
Oil prices had surged more than US$2 on Tuesday on expectations that the US inventory data would reveal a drop. The US Department of Energy indeed said that commercial stockpiles of US crude slumped by 6.8 million barrels last week to 470.6 million. Analysts’ consensus forecast had been for a drop of 1.45 million, according to Bloomberg.
A drop in US stockpiles is seen as an indicator of healthy demand in the world’s top crude consumer, supporting global prices. Meanwhile, OPEC stuck to its forecast that oil demand would pick up this year, but warned that oversupply might still keep a “ceiling” on crude prices, even as it kept on increasing its own output to a two-year high.
By Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in July jumped to US$64.35 a barrel from US$61.15 a week earlier. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) or light sweet crude for July increased to US$59.99 a barrel from US$57.54 a week earlier.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold prices won support from its status as a haven investment amid heightened market tensions over Greece.
Analysts expect the precious metal to continue to win support from the buying of gold by central banks.
“We expect official purchases to be one of several factors that boost gold prices in the next year or two, despite the prospect of tighter US monetary policy and renewed strength in the US dollar against other major currencies,” analysts at Capital Economics said in a client note.
Silver dropped on weak Chinese demand prospects, traders said.
By Friday on the London Bullion Market, the price of gold gained to US$1,182.80 an ounce from US$1,164.60 a week earlier.
Silver fell to US$15.93 an ounce from US$16.15.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum edged up to US$1,095 an ounce from US$1,092.
Palladium fell to US$739 an ounce from US$751.
BASE METALS: Base or industrial metals prices were mixed as traders responded to Chinese data.
Growth in China’s industrial production hit a three-month high last month, figures showed on Thursday, while expansion in retail sales rebounded from a nine-year low in cautiously positive signs for the world’s second-largest economy.
By Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months slipped to US$5,898.50 a tonne from US$5,919.50 a week earlier.
Three-month aluminum grew to US$1,748.50 a tonne from US$1,730, while three-month lead slid to US$1,852.50 a tonne from US$1,913 and three-month tin fell to US$14,940 a tonne from US$15,210.
Three-month nickel edged up to US$13,035 a tonne from US$12,905, while three-month zinc dipped to US$2,112.50 a tonne from US$2,137.50.
COCOA: Prices won support from tight supply worries in Ghana, the world’s second-biggest cocoa producer behind Ivory Coast.
By Friday on LIFFE, London’s futures exchange, cocoa for delivery in July stood at £2,094 a tonne, unchanged from the previous week.
On the ICE Futures US exchange, cocoa for July rose to US$3,109 a tonne from US$3,092.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in