World oil prices rebounded in Asian trade on Friday after tumbling to four-year lows before the Christmas break, with economic gloom weighing on the market, analysts said.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for February delivery, rose US$1.39 to US$36.74 a barrel in afternoon trade after closing down US$3.63 at US$35.35 in US trade on Wednesday.
Brent North Sea crude for February delivery rose US$0.94 to US$37.55 in the afternoon. In London, the contract settled on Wednesday down US$3.75 at US$36.61, its lowest since July 2004.
After taking a one-day trading break for Christmas, oil reopened higher on Friday partly because of technical factors, said Ken Hasegawa, manager of the energy desk at Newedge Japan brokerage.
“After a sharp drop in sentiment on Wednesday, before the holidays, today [there is] a slight technical rebound,” he said from Tokyo.
Another factor boosting prices was the US government’s latest weekly report on crude stockpiles in the world’s largest energy consumer, Hasegawa said.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) report, released on Wednesday, showed US crude inventories sank 3.1 million barrels in the week ending on Dec. 19. The drop was far heavier than market expectations.
The EIA said that crude reserves were 9.1 percent higher than at the same stage last year.
Analysts said that recent US data showing that the world’s biggest economy remained in a recession were likely to keep crude oil prices under pressure in the immediate term.
A sharp global economic downturn that has slashed the world’s demand for energy has led to the price of crude oil collapsing by about 75 percent since hitting record highs above US$147 a barrel in July.
Oil markets are pricing in a continued decline in economic activity despite efforts by governments around the world to stimulate their economies, MF Global energy analyst John Kilduff said.
“The energy markets appear as unappreciative of the stimulus efforts as any of the other markets and the pricing in of doom and gloom are producing price levels that transcend reality,” he said. “Obviously, we haven’t reached the ultimate end point yet.”
OPEC, which produces about 40 percent of the world’s crude, agreed last week to cut output by 2.2 million barrels a day to shore up the market.
Prices have continued to slide despite OPEC’s announcement.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
RSS