Commodities mainly fell this week as traders digested an EU plan to tackle the Greek debt crisis, alongside news of moderately weaker economic growth in the US, a key consumer.
“Most commodity markets [were] lower, weighed primarily by broader market concerns,” Barclays Capital analysts said in a research note to clients.
“Lingering concerns on sovereign risk in the euro area and a smattering of mixed US macro-economic data have all affected the trajectory of commodity price movements,” they added.
OIL: Prices fell at the start of the week, before attempting a brief recovery as the US dollar weakened, but drifted lower on Friday as traders mulled the Greek rescue deal and the US economic growth outlook.
Oil had fallen earlier in the week as traders also tracked US demand worries as a government inventory report showed a jump in American crude inventories.
The US government’s Department of Energy said in its weekly inventory report on Wednesday that crude oil inventories rose 7.2 million barrels last week, confounding expectations of an increase of 1.7 million barrels.
By late on Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Texas light sweet crude for delivery in May sank to US$79.82 compared with US$80.29 a week earlier for the expired April contract.
On London’s IntercontinentalExchange, Brent North Sea crude for May delivery dipped to US$79.05 from US$79.66 a week earlier.
PRECIOUS METALS: The prices of all precious metals declined.
By Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold eased to US$1,096 an ounce from US$1,105 the previous week.
Silver dipped to US$16.85 an ounce from 17.31.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum edged down to US$1,596 an ounce from US$1,617.
Palladium fell to US$458 an ounce from US$476.
BASE METALS: Base or industrial metals diverged, despite growing hopes of a recovery in demand.
“There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that the biggest ever recovery in global base metals demand is taking shape,” Barclays Capital analysts said.
“Skepticism over the sustainability of this recovery and, in some cases, total blind-sidedness over any recovery at all, means that prices have yet to fully reflect what are turning into very positive demand dynamics indeed,” they said.
By Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months rose to US$7,512 a tonne from US$7,419 the previous week. Three-month aluminum dropped to US$2,230 a tonne from US$2,252.
GRAINS AND SOYA: Grains and soya prices weakened.
By Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade, maize for delivery in May dipped to US$3.57 a bushel from US$3.74 the previous week.
May-dated soyabean meal — used in animal feed — dropped to US$9.45 from US$9.61.
Wheat for May was down to US$4.66 a bushel from US$4.83.
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)