Oil prices won support this week from fears of a US-led military strike against Syria, while commodity market traders also reacted also to uncertainty over the timing of the US Federal Reserve’s stimulus tapering.
US President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin failed on Friday to end their bitter dispute over US plans for military action in Syria, as half of the G20 called for a “strong” response to a chemical weapons attack blamed on the regime.
The US signaled that it had given up on securing Moscow’s support at the UN on the crisis, as Putin reiterated a warning that it would be “outside the law” to attack without the UN’s blessing.
Also occupying traders’ minds was news of disappointing US jobs growth last month, with the economy adding 169,000 jobs, the US Department of Labor reported on Friday, fewer than the 177,000 expected by analysts.
“Weaker-than-expected US labor market data casts doubt on [the] timing” of the Fed’s planned stimulus tapering, said Katie Evans, an economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research in London.
OIL: Crude futures built on the previous week’s strong gains. as traders continued to plow money into crude on the back of escalating tensions over Syria.
Teoh Say Hwa, head of investment at Phillip Futures in Singapore, said the initial expression of support from the US Congress for a US-led attack had increased the likelihood of military action.
This has raised concerns “that the unrest may spread in the Middle East region, which accounts for a third of the world’s crude, and disrupts oil supplies,” she said.
New York crude had struck US$112.24 a barrel the previous week, which was the highest level since early May 2011. At the same time, Brent oil soared to US$117.34 a barrel, last seen in late February.
By Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in October climbed to US$116.00 a barrel from US$114.74 a week earlier.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate or light sweet crude for September rose to US$110.16 a barrel, from US$108.02.
PRECIOUS METALS: The price of gold fell slightly over the week despite winning support from tensions over Syria.
By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, the price of gold fell to US$1,387 an ounce from US$1,394.75 a week earlier.
Silver slipped to US$23.05 an ounce from US$23.64.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum dipped to US$1,498 an ounce from US$1,527, while palladium dropped to US$699 an ounce from US$741.
BASE METALS: Base or industrial metals were mixed amid Syria and US data.
Price falls among certain metals are “due primarily to the generally higher risk aversion among market players, the Syrian conflict in particular continuing to weigh on sentiment,” Commerzbank analysts said.
By Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months rose to US$7,135 a tonne from US$7,111.75 a week earlier, while three month aluminum fell to US$1,817 a tonne from US$1,820.
Three-month lead declined to US$2,145.25 a tonne from US$2,162.
Three-month tin rose to US$22,675 a tonne from US$21,150.
Three-month nickel increased to US$13,933 a tonne from US$13,864, while three-month zinc slipped to US$1,887.75 a tonne from US$1,905.25.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
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