Gold prices dropped on Tuesday for the eighth straight session, as speculative funds kept liquidating their holdings given a stronger dollar.
Energy prices also moved lower, while grains finished mixed.
Gold — regarded earlier this year as a hedge against a weakening US dollar — is now down 21 percent since its March record of US$1,033.90 an ounce.
“August has thus far been a one-way staircase for bullion prices,” wrote Jon Nadler, a precious metals analyst with Kitco Bullion Dealers Montreal, in a research note on Tuesday. “The recent volatility in most of these metals and currency markets appears to indicate a shift in the long-term trends of the dollar, the euro and the precious metals.”
On Tuesday, gold for December delivery lost US$13.70 to settle at US$814.60 an ounce on the Nymex, after dipping as low as US$808.60.
Other metals also declined, as the dollar held steady against the euro but reached new 20-month highs against the pound.
Silver for delivery next month fell US$0.135 to settle at US$14.485 an ounce on the Nymex, after sinking as low as US$14.01.
Copper for delivery next month fell US$0.064 to settle at US$3.2275 a pound.
Oil prices also fell because of a stronger dollar, as well as a lowered forecast for developed countries’ energy use by the International Energy Agency.
On the Nymex, light, sweet crude dipped by US$1.44 to settle at US$113.01 a barrel, after dropping to a new three-month low of US$112.31 during trading. Heating oil fell US$0.0414 to US$3.0781 a gallon, while gasoline futures slipped US$0.0234 to US$2.8432 a gallon.
Meanwhile, grains finished mixed on Tuesday after the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) lifted its production estimates for corn and wheat but lowered its forecast for soybeans.
On Tuesday, the USDA estimated that farmers would harvest 12.3 billion bushels of corn — still down 6 percent from last year’s crop, but better than previously believed thanks to the improvement in the weather. It estimated that the soybean crop will be 2.97 billion bushels, and the wheat crop will be 2.462 billion bushels.
If those forecasts are correct, this year’s corn crop will be the second-largest ever and the soybean crop will be the fourth-largest.
The figures were largely in line with agriculture analysts’ expectations, but surprisingly positive given the storms that devastated Midwest farmland earlier this year, said Elaine Kub of commodities research firm DTN in Omaha, Nebraska.
“In ideal years, farmers will harvest 90 percent and lose 10 percent to the usual factors ... nonetheless, the USDA says they will harvest more than 91 percent. So that’s perplexing,” she said.
Kub said the predictions could have a “wide margin of error.”
Because grains prices have fallen so far so fast, it appears that supply to the market is waning a bit while demand is recovering, said Christian Mayer, an analyst with Northstar Commodity in Minneapolis.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique