Commodity markets were shaken this week by mixed news on the health of the US economy, which is a key consumer of raw materials, and concerns about the impact of the Greek debt crisis.
“Commodity prices remain volatile amid the vortex of financial markets and macro-economic trends, with sentiment fragile and price moves susceptible to the mood of external markets,” Barclays Capital analysts said in a note.
OIL: Crude oil enjoyed mixed fortunes after a choppy week in which traders also tracked supply-side concerns and fluctuations in the US dollar.
New York crude breached US$80 a barrel on Monday, boosted by supply worries as a major strike gripped the French oil industry and tensions remained high over Iran’s nuclear program.
Oil “poked above US$80 a barrel on a slew of supply-related issues that have crept up, raising worries that the combination of these things may cut into the global oil supply glut,” analyst Phil Flynn of PFG Best said.
By late on Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), Texas light sweet crude for delivery in April, rose to US$79.64 a barrel from US$79.33 for the expired March contract a week earlier.
Brent North Sea crude for April eased to US$76.53 from US$77.70 on London’s IntercontinentalExchange (ICE).
BASE METALS: Base metals prices mostly dropped.
“Uncertainty over the Greek debt situation continued to weigh on broad market sentiment alongside a sharp pick-up in weekly US jobless claims,” Barclays Capital analysts said.
By Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months dipped to US$7,100 a tonne from US$7,320 the previous week.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold dipped in value, but silver eked out a slender gain.
By Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold declined to US$1,108.25 an ounce from US$1,112.75 the previous week.
Silver climbed to US$16.12 an ounce from US$15.95.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum advanced to US$1,533 an ounce from US$1,513.
SUGAR: Prices fell further on profit-taking after hitting a recent 30-year peak at the start of the month on the back of tight supplies.
By Friday on the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT), the price of unrefined sugar for delivery in May slipped to US$0.2346 a pound (0.45kg) compared with US$0.2570 the previous week.
On LIFFE, London’s futures exchange, the price of a tonne of white sugar for May sank to £662.60 from £705.80.
RISK REMAINS: An official said that with the US presidential elections so close, it is unclear if China would hold war games or keep its reaction to angry words The Ministry of National Defense said it was “on alert” as it detected a Chinese aircraft carrier group to Taiwan’s south yesterday amid concerns in Taiwan about the possibility of a new round of Chinese war games. The ministry said in a statement that a Chinese navy group led by the carrier Liaoning had entered waters near the Bashi Channel, which connects the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean and separates Taiwan from the Philippines. It said the carrier group was expected to enter the Western Pacific. The military is keeping a close watch on developments and “exercising an
FIVE-YEAR WINDOW? A defense institute CEO said a timeline for a potential Chinese invasion was based on expected ‘tough measures’ when Xi Jinping seeks a new term Most Taiwanese are willing to defend the nation against a Chinese attack, but the majority believe Beijing is unlikely to invade within the next five years, a poll showed yesterday. The poll carried out last month was commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taipei-based think tank, and released ahead of Double Ten National Day today, when President William Lai (賴清德) is to deliver a speech. China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of war games in the past two years. CIA Director William Burns last year said that Chinese President Xi Jinping
RESILIENCE: Once the system is operational, there would be no need to worry about the risks posed by disasters or other emergencies on communication systems, an official said Taiwan would have 24-hour access to low Earth orbit satellites by the end of this month through service provided by Eutelsat OneWeb as part of the nation’s effort to enhance signal resilience, a Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) official said yesterday. Earlier this year the Ministry of Digital Affairs, which partnered with Chunghwa Telecom on a two-year project to boost signal resilience throughout the nation, said it reached a milestone when it made contact with OneWeb’s satellites half of the time. It expects to have the capability to maintain constant contact with the satellites and have nationwide coverage by the end
REACTION TO LAI: A former US official said William Lai took a step toward stability with his National Day speech and the question was how Beijing would respond US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday warned China against taking any “provocative” action on Taiwan after Beijing’s reaction to President William Lai’s (賴清德) speech on Double Ten National Day on Thursday. Blinken, speaking in Laos after an ASEAN East Asia Summit, called the speech by Lai, in which he vowed to “resist annexation,” a “regular exercise.” “China should not use it in any fashion as a pretext for provocative actions,” Blinken told reporters. “On the contrary, we want to reinforce — and many other countries want to reinforce — the imperative of preserving the status quo, and neither party taking any
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