Gold jumped to a seven-week high after a report showed that the US economy added fewer jobs than forecast, easing concerns that the US Federal Reserve will soon pare back stimulus. Nickel and aluminum led gains in most base metals.
Data on Friday showed that the US non-farm payrolls increased 235,000 last month, the smallest gain in seven months and well below economists’ forecasts.
The US dollar fell after the report, boosting demand the appeal of metals for investors holding other currencies.
Bullion has struggled this year amid a global economic rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has raised the prospect of central banks reining in massive monetary stimulus.
Spot gold on Friday rose 1.1 percent to US$1,829.09 an ounce in New York, after touching US$1,834.04, the highest since July 15. The precious metal gained 0.9 percent this week.
Silver jumped as much as 4 percent on Friday. Platinum and palladium also climbed.
In base metals, aluminum added 1.3 percent to US$2,730 a ton on the London Metal Exchange, posting a second weekly gain. The metal climbed to a 10-year high this week as Chinese supply was constrained by an electricity savings drive.
Copper rose 0.7 percent in London and nickel climbed 2.1 percent. Tin and lead dropped.
RHODIUM
The rise of rhodium, the world’s most expensive precious metal, has made it the No. 1 revenue stream of the biggest platinum miners.
While the metal is well shy of its March peak, rhodium still accounted for 45 percent of Anglo American Platinum Ltd’s first-half revenues. That is more than platinum and palladium put together.
For parent Anglo American PLC, the metal generated more revenue than the diamonds mined by its De Beers business or the copper it extracts in Chile and Peru.
The scarcity of rhodium — a byproduct of platinum and palladium mining — and its unparalleled ability to curb nitrogen oxides from vehicle exhaust fumes pushed up prices as stricter pollution laws boost demand.
In March, it climbed to a record US$29,800 an ounce, making it 17 times more valuable than gold. Originally used for decoration or as corrosion-resistant coating, rhodium has also become the biggest export for South Africa, which produces more than 80 percent of global supply.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has talked up the benefits of a weaker yen in a campaign speech, adopting a tone at odds with her finance ministry, which has refused to rule out any options to counter excessive foreign exchange volatility. Takaichi later softened her stance, saying she did not have a preference for the yen’s direction. “People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it’s a major opportunity,” Takaichi said on Saturday at a rally for Liberal Democratic Party candidate Daishiro Yamagiwa in Kanagawa Prefecture ahead of a snap election on Sunday. “Whether it’s selling food or
CONCERNS: Tech companies investing in AI businesses that purchase their products have raised questions among investors that they are artificially propping up demand Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday said that the company would be participating in OpenAI’s latest funding round, describing it as potentially “the largest investment we’ve ever made.” “We will invest a great deal of money,” Huang told reporters while visiting Taipei. “I believe in OpenAI. The work that they do is incredible. They’re one of the most consequential companies of our time.” Huang did not say exactly how much Nvidia might contribute, but described the investment as “huge.” “Let Sam announce how much he’s going to raise — it’s for him to decide,” Huang said, referring to OpenAI
The global server market is expected to grow 12.8 percent annually this year, with artificial intelligence (AI) servers projected to account for 16.5 percent, driven by continued investment in AI infrastructure by major cloud service providers (CSPs), market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. Global AI server shipments this year are expected to increase 28 percent year-on-year to more than 2.7 million units, driven by sustained demand from CSPs and government sovereign cloud projects, TrendForce analyst Frank Kung (龔明德) told the Taipei Times. Demand for GPU-based AI servers, including Nvidia Corp’s GB and Vera Rubin rack systems, is expected to remain high,
RSS