Oil rallied this week, with Brent hitting a six-month high on recent upbeat data, winter weather in the northern hemisphere and Iran tensions, while other commodities steadied as traders eyed Greek news.
OIL: Brent oil prices spiked on Thursday to US$118.79 per barrel — the highest level since Aug. 1 — as the market was propelled by ongoing tensions in key crude producer Iran and tentative hopes of a Greek debt deal.
Heading into the weekend, prices tailed off as investors took flight over weak Chinese trade figures, sliding global stock markets and fresh problems over a new Greek rescue deal.
By late on Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in March jumped to US$116.93 a barrel from US$113.38 the previous week.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) or light sweet crude for next month rose to US$98.04 from US$97.31.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold fell, dragging most precious metals lower, as traders eyed Chinese trade data and ongoing Greek woes, and took profits after striking a two-month high the previous week.
Gold had hit US$1,763.15 an ounce on Feb. 3, reaching its highest level since Dec. 2, after a raft of upbeat global manufacturing data.
By late on Friday on the -London Bullion Market, gold slid to US$1,711.50 an ounce from US$1,734 the previous week.
Silver dipped to US$33.55 an ounce from US$33.93.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum firmed to US$1,638 an ounce from US$1,630.
Palladium declined to US$697 an ounce from US$711.
BASE METALS: Base or industrial metals struck a stable note.
“Broad support for base metals from positive macroeconomic data and events remains, particularly indications of a stabilization in the global industrial sector early in 2012, as well as constructive developments in the eurozone,” analyst Unnikrishnan at Barclays Capital said.
By late on Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months firmed to US$8,500 a tonne from US$8,492 the previous week.
Three-month aluminum increased to US$2,255 a tonne from US$2,234.
Three-month lead eased to US$2,163 a tonne from US$2,206.
Three-month tin rose to US$24,900 a tonne from US$24,260.
AI REVOLUTION: The event is to take place from Wednesday to Friday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center’s halls 1 and 2 and would feature more than 1,100 exhibitors Semicon Taiwan, an annual international semiconductor exhibition, would bring leaders from the world’s top technology firms to Taipei this year, the event organizer said. The CEO Summit is to feature nine global leaders from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), Applied Materials Inc, Google, Samsung Electronics Co, SK Hynix Inc, Microsoft Corp, Interuniversity Microelectronic Centre and Marvell Technology Group Ltd, SEMI said in a news release last week. The top executives would delve into how semiconductors are positioned as the driving force behind global technological innovation amid the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, the organizer said. Among them,
Demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips should spur growth for the semiconductor industry over the next few years, the CEO of a major supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said, dismissing concerns that investors had misjudged the pace and extent of spending on AI. While the global chip market has grown about 8 percent annually over the past 20 years, AI semiconductors should grow at a much higher rate going forward, Scientech Corp (辛耘) chief executive officer Hsu Ming-chi (許明琪) told Bloomberg Television. “This booming of the AI industry has just begun,” Hsu said. “For the most prominent
Former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) yesterday warned against the tendency to label stakeholders as either “pro-China” or “pro-US,” calling such rigid thinking a “trap” that could impede policy discussions. Liu, an adviser to the Cabinet’s Economic Development Committee, made the comments in his keynote speech at the committee’s first advisers’ meeting. Speaking in front of Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) and other officials, Liu urged the public to be wary of falling into the “trap” of categorizing people involved in discussions into either the “pro-China” or “pro-US” camp. Liu,
Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said Taiwan’s government plans to set up a business service company in Kyushu, Japan, to help Taiwanese companies operating there. “The company will follow the one-stop service model similar to the science parks we have in Taiwan,” Kuo said. “As each prefecture is providing different conditions, we will establish a new company providing services and helping Taiwanese companies swiftly settle in Japan.” Kuo did not specify the exact location of the planned company but said it would not be in Kumamoto, the Kyushu prefecture in which Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC, 台積電) has a
RSS