Commodity prices mostly fell this week under pressure from the US Federal Reserve’s reluctance to inject fresh stimulus into the sluggish US economy and amid stubborn recession fears in Europe.
Markets were also rocked by mounting concern that Spain could be engulfed by the euro-area debt crisis that has already sunk Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
Most markets experienced holiday-shortened trade ahead of the Easter holiday break.
Minutes from the Fed’s policy meeting last month, published on Tuesday, dealt a blow to hopes of more quantitative easing (QE) stimulus measures to boost US growth, but the news helped the US dollar.
A stronger greenback often makes US dollar-priced raw materials, like gold and crude oil, more expensive for buyers using weaker currencies, denting demand and weighing on prices.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold hit a three-month low at US$1,612.20 per ounce after the Fed news, dragging other precious metals lower.
“Precious metals prices remain under pressure as concerns about demand persist, with markets focusing on a potential slowdown in China and the Fed downgrading the possibility of further QE,” Barclays Capital analyst Sudakshina Unnikrishnan said.
By late Thursday on the London Bullion Market, gold dipped to US$1,631 an ounce from US$1,662.50 the previous week.
Silver slid to US$31.273 an ounce from US$32.43.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum dropped to US$1,592 an ounce from US$$1,640.
Palladium weakened to US$635 an ounce from US$651.
OIL: World oil prices also tumbled after the US government reported a big jump in the nation’s crude stockpiles, adding to concerns about growth in the world’s biggest oil-consuming nation.
The US Department of Energy said on Wednesday that crude reserves soared by 9 million barrels in the week ending March 30. That was a far bigger increase than the average analyst estimate for 1.9 million barrels.
By late Thursday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery next month dropped to US$122.17 a barrel from US$$123.24 the previous Friday.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) or light sweet crude for next month fell to US$101.97 from US$103.33.
BASE METALS: Prices mostly fell on the strong US dollar and amid an absence of Chinese buyers because of public holidays.
By late Thursday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months fell to US$8,405 a tonne from US$8,454.25 the previous Friday.
Three-month aluminum fell to US$2,094 a tonne from US$2,144.
Three-month lead eased to US$2,020 a tonne from US$2,023.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) yesterday said that Intel Corp would find itself in the same predicament as it did four years ago if its board does not come up with a core business strategy. Chang made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions about the ailing US chipmaker, once an archrival of TSMC, during a news conference in Taipei for the launch of the second volume of his autobiography. Intel unexpectedly announced the immediate retirement of former chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger last week, ending his nearly four-year tenure and ending his attempts to revive the
WORLD DOMINATION: TSMC’s lead over second-placed Samsung has grown as the latter faces increased Chinese competition and the end of clients’ product life cycles Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) retained the No. 1 title in the global pure-play wafer foundry business in the third quarter of this year, seeing its market share growing to 64.9 percent to leave South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, the No. 2 supplier, further behind, Taipei-based TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report. TSMC posted US$23.53 billion in sales in the July-September period, up 13.0 percent from a quarter earlier, which boosted its market share to 64.9 percent, up from 62.3 percent in the second quarter, the report issued on Monday last week showed. TSMC benefited from the debut of flagship
A former ASML Holding NV employee is facing a lawsuit in the Netherlands over suspected theft of trade secrets, Dutch public broadcaster NOS said, in the latest breach of the maker of advanced chip-manufacturing equipment. The 43-year-old Russian engineer, who is suspected of stealing documents such as microchip manuals from ASML, is expected to appear at a court in Rotterdam today, NOS reported on Friday. He is accused of multiple violations of the sanctions legislation and has been given a 20-year entry ban by the Dutch government, the report said. The Dutch company makes machines needed to produce high-end chips that power
As South Korea descends into political chaos, its equity market risks falling further behind major tech rival Taiwan, which is basking in the glory of a global artificial intelligence (AI) boom. A near-30 percent surge in Taiwan’s stock benchmark this year, set to be the best since 2009, has already helped spur a historic divergence between Asia’s two tech-dominated markets. The nation’s market capitalization now exceeds South Korea’s by about US$950 billion as the world’s AI frontrunners from Nvidia Corp and Microsoft Corp to OpenAI all increasingly turn to Taiwanese firms for supply. Looking ahead to next year, while both export-oriented economies
RSS