Crude oil prices rallied this week on upbeat data in top consumer the US and concerns over supply disruptions in Libya and Nigeria, dealers said.
Gold ran out of steam and fell from recent peaks as Ukraine tensions eased.
OIL: New York crude began the week on the front foot, rising on Monday as traffic was halted on the Houston Ship Channel, a key petroleum-industry waterway, due to an oil spill.
Prices then jumped further as data showed a fall in crude supplies at a key US trading hub and a surprisingly large decline in gasoline stocks.
The US Energy Information Administration revealed on Wednesday that stockpiles sank by 1.3 million barrels at the Cushing, Oklahoma oil-trading hub for the US benchmark.
That was the eighth straight weekly decline and leaves Cushing stockpiles at their lowest level since January 2012.
Meanwhile, Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell on Wednesday said it had declared a force majeure on crude from Nigeria as it struggles to repair a sabotaged pipeline.
Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer, accounting for more than 2 million barrels per day.
Force majeure is a legal term releasing a company from contractual obligations when faced with circumstances beyond its control.
By Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in May rose to US$108.04 a barrel from US$107.51.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate or light sweet crude for May climbed to US$101.67 per barrel from US$100.13 a week earlier for next month contract.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold sank as investors took profits amid fading geopolitical concerns in Ukraine.
The glamorous metal touched the lowest point for one-and-a-half months at US$1,285.82 per ounce on Friday.
Gold had struck a six-month high at US$1,392.22 per ounce the previous week, as investors sought a haven investment to shelter from Ukraine tensions.
By late on Friday on the London Bullion Market, the price of gold slid to US$1,294.75 an ounce from US$1,336 a week earlier.
Silver dipped to US$19.71 an ounce from US$20.55.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum reversed to US$1,401 an ounce from US$1,439.
Palladium receded to US$771 an ounce from US$789.
BASE METALS: Base or industrial metals prices diverged as traders balanced weak manufacturing data against hopes of stimulus measures in key consumer China.
HSBC’s flash purchasing managers index for this month came in at 48.1, an eight-month low and down from 48.5 last month.
Anything below 50 indicates contraction while a figure above points to expansion.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
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Top Taiwanese officials yesterday moved to ease concern about the potential fallout of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, making a case that the technology restrictions promised by the former US president against China would outweigh the risks to the island. The prospect of Trump’s victory in this week’s election is a worry for Taipei given the Republican nominee in the past cast doubt over the US commitment to defend it from Beijing. But other policies championed by Trump toward China hold some appeal for Taiwan. National Development Council Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) described the proposed technology curbs as potentially having
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