The price of gold raced higher this week, reaching almost US$1,000 an ounce as investors sought a safe haven amid concerns over the strength of economic recovery, analysts said.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold prices surged as high as US$997.80 an ounce, helping to lift silver and platinum to multi-month highs.
“Gold stole the headlines ... as resurgent investment demand pushed the metal to its highs since February,” said James Moore, an analyst for TheBullionDesk.com.
By late on Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold was up to US$989 an ounce from US$955.50 a week earlier.
Silver jumped to US$15.95 an ounce from US$14.54.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum edged up to US$1,244 an ounce at the late fixing on Friday from US$1,242.
OIL: Crude oil prices slid from above US$70 a barrel this week, tracking stock markets lower.
They continued to fall on Friday after the world’s biggest energy consumer, the US, reported a rise in its unemployment rate and as traders booked profits before a long US holiday weekend.
Elsewhere, oil traders were gearing up for next week’s OPEC ministerial meeting in Vienna to decide on the cartel’s crude production levels. Angola, this year’s president of OPEC, has said the cartel should maintain production at existing levels during the meeting on Wednesday.
After falling sharply at the start of the week following heavy losses on the Chinese stock market, oil prices stabilized on Wednesday as official data showed US crude stocks had dropped by an expected 400,000 barrels.
News of a potential increase in supplies came on Wednesday as British energy major BP said it had made a “giant” oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico after drilling one of the industry’s deepest-ever wells.
By Friday on London’s InterContinental Exchange (ICE), Brent North Sea crude for delivery in October slumped to US$66.89 a barrel from US$72.85 a week earlier.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude for October tumbled to US$67.91 a barrel from US$72.70.
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PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
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