Gold prices this week broke through US$1,200 for the first time ever, cementing the precious metal’s rapid rise over the past year as nervous traders sought safe-haven investments.
There were meanwhile multi-month highs for silver, platinum and palladium, while cocoa futures struck the highest level for 24 years in London.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold on Thursday struck a record high price of US$1,226.56 on the London Bullion Market after breaking through the US$1,200 barrier for the first time on Tuesday.
Gold has smashed record after record over recent days and weeks on the back of inflationary fears and increasing moves by central banks to diversify assets away from the US dollar, which has weakened against the euro.
After surging above US$1,200, the market is staring “into the unknown,” VTB Capital commodities analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov said.
“Resistance could yet prove to be very strong and we are looking for a sustained push above it to signal gains to US$1,230/50,” he said. “There is little doubt that the market remains bullish and even though we expect trading to subside later this month, the downside is still limited. At the moment we favor little profit-taking.”
The price of gold has soared by more than 55 percent in value over the past 12 months.
Gold prices have won support from central bank purchases of the metal.
The IMF last week said it had sold 10 tonnes of gold to Sri Lanka’s central bank for US$375 million as part of a restructuring of its financial resources.
The record run for gold comes also after a recent newspaper report that India was mulling the purchase of more IMF gold reserves.
Gold’s jump dragged silver to a 16-month high of US$19.46 an ounce. Platinum achieved a 15-month peak of US$1,510.30 and platinum hit US$392.25 — a level not seen since July last year.
By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold gained to US$1,190.25 an ounce from US$1,166.50 a week earlier.
Silver grew to US$18.83 an ounce from US$17.98.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum climbed to US$1,472 an ounce at the late fixing on Friday from US$1,426 the previous week.
Palladium increased to US$378 an ounce from US$358.
OIL: Oil prices rose thanks to a strong finish to the week following news of shrinking unemployment in the US, the world’s biggest energy-consuming nation.
Oil prices had fallen on Friday ahead of the jobs data owing to concerns about poor energy demand, traders said.
By Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), light sweet crude for delivery in January jumped to US$77.61 compared with US$74.90 a week earlier.
On London’s InterContinental Exchange (ICE), Brent North Sea crude for January delivery climbed to US$79.48 from US$76.10 a week earlier.
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