Commodities mostly fell in volatile trading this week as investors tracked sharp swings in global equities and the US dollar amid news that the US has escaped from recession.
Official data showed on Thursday that the US economy emerged from a vicious recession in the third quarter, following France, Germany and Japan out of the worst downturn since the 1930s.
Many analysts said that the expansion was mainly the result of exceptional government measures to stimulate growth that would eventually expire.
At the same time, markets were rattled on Friday by data showing that US consumer spending, a critical growth driver, fell for the first time in five months in September.
OIL: World oil prices dived on Friday on profit-taking, mirroring losses on global stock markets, after surging the previous day on news that the US has bounced out of recession.
Earlier this week, oil had plunged as the dollar rose against rival currencies, and amid expectations of easing violence in Nigeria, whose crude production has been ravaged by militant attacks in recent years.
The announcement last weekend of an “indefinite ceasefire” by militants in Nigeria partly allayed investor concerns over potential supply disruptions in the African country. Nigeria is the world’s eighth-largest oil producer.
The oil market also fell on Wednesday as traders reacted to rising US crude and gasoline stockpiles and souring consumer confidence.
By Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), light sweet crude for delivery in December fell to US$78.11, from US$80.48 a week earlier.
On London’s InterContinental Exchange (ICE), Brent North Sea crude for December delivery dived to US$76.38, compared with US$78.91 a week earlier.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold prices fell as the dollar rose in value, dragging other previous metals lower, analysts said.
The price of gold had hit an all-time high earlier this month at US$1,070.80 an ounce, before running into profit-taking.
By late on Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold fell to US$1,040 an ounce from US$1,061.75 a week earlier.
Silver slid to US$16.57 an ounce from US$17.65.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum declined to US$1,320 an ounce at the late fixing on Friday from US$1,372.
Palladium retreated to US$324 an ounce from US$338.
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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
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
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