Commodity prices were boosted this week by the weak US dollar and strong emerging market demand, alongside solid economic growth and expectations of more stimulus measures in the US.
OIL: World oil prices churned higher as traders digested newsflow on the US economy and the faltering dollar.
“The oil market is on standby, struggling for direction,” analyst Myrto Sokou at the Sucden brokerage in London said. “Crude oil prices have consolidated around 82 dollars per barrel ... this week, while investors were prompted to lock in recent profits ahead of the Fed meeting and the mid-term US elections next week.”
By late Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in December gained to US$83.31 a barrel from US$82.10 a week earlier.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, Texas light sweet crude for December rose to US$81.70 a barrel from US$80.61.
COTTON: Cotton struck a new record at US$1.3050 a pound in New York, as bad weather hampered harvests in China and the US.
By Friday in New York, cotton for December rose to US$1.2384 a pound (0.45kg) from US$1.1971 a week earlier.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold, which hit record peaks earlier this month, continues to enjoy support from its safe-haven status and is on a positive long-term price trend, the World Gold Council said.
By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold rose to US$1,346.75 an ounce at the late fixing, from US$1,322.50 a week earlier.
Silver gained to US$23.96 an ounce from US$23.05.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum rose to US$1,700 an ounce from US$1,673.
Palladium rallied to US$640 an ounce from US$586.
BASE METALS: Copper hit a two-year peak, while zinc and lead forged their highest levels since January, before the industrial metals ran into profit-taking and fell as the greenback staged a modest rebound.
By late Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months fell to US$8,198 a tonne from US$8,330 a week earlier.
Three-month aluminum eased to US$2,340 a tonne from US$2,382.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed in several cities and counties in southern and eastern Taiwan, including in the key industrial port city of Kaohsiung. Taiwan, which started canceling flights, ship sailings and some train services earlier this week, has wind and rain advisories in place for much of the island. It regularly experiences typhoons, and in July shut offices and schools as
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
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