Commodities prices fell in the past week, giving back some of their recent gains while precious metals slipped as more confident investors looked to exit safe-havens such as gold, analysts said.
OIL: Oil prices fell below US$70 on profit-taking on Friday after a brief rally spurred by hopes that the worst may be over for the ailing global economy.
Early gains were also supported by continuing attacks on oil facilities in Nigeria and concerns about political developments in Iran, OPEC’s second largest producer, following disputed presidential elections there.
PHOTO: REUTERS
New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, shed US$1.82 from Thursday’s close to end at US$69.55 a barrel after climbing past US$72.
In London trading, Brent North Sea crude for August delivery dropped US$1.87 to US$69.19 per barrel.
Traders said prices came under pressure ahead of tomorrow’s expiry of the New York futures July contract.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold prices slipped further after a recent rally toward US$1,000 an ounce.
“With the recent recovery in risk appetite, safe-haven demand for gold has receded,” BNP Paribas analyst Anne-Laure Tremblay said.
By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold dropped to US$933.75 an ounce from US$937.25 a week earlier.
Silver fell to US$14.23 an ounce from US$15.07.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum slipped to US$1,209 an ounce at the late fixing on Friday from US$1,241.
Palladium declined to US$241 an ounce from US$252.50.
BASE METALS: Base metals prices slid after recent sharp gains. China’s strong purchase of metals spurred other investors to buy up commodities in recent weeks.
By Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months fell to US$5,039 a tonne from US$5,255 a week earlier.
Three-month aluminum dropped to US$1,665 a tonne from US$1,670.
GRAINS AND SOYA: Grains and soya prices retreated on strong supply expectations.
By Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade, maize for delivery in July fell to US$3.94 a bushel from US$4.25 a week earlier.
July-dated soyabean meal — used in animal feed — decreased to US$12.01 from US$12.45.
Wheat for July dropped to US$5.10 a bushel from US$5.84.
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
RSS