Oil and gold prices hit multi-month peaks this week on the back of improved demand prospects in the world’s two biggest economies — the US and China — and a weaker greenback.
OIL: Global crude prices rallied on improving US demand prospects.
On Wednesday, US crude struck its highest level in four months at US$100.37 a barrel, while Brent achieved the steepest peak this year at about US$110 a barrel.
World oil markets are unexpectedly tight as growth in advanced economies picks up, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday, urging OPEC to skip a seasonal output drop as stocks touch six-year lows. The agency said a US-led pick-up in demand in advanced countries has more than compensated for slowing emerging market consumption.
Oil price support this week came also from a rise in Chinese crude imports.
By Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April stood at US$108.38 a barrel, compared with US$108.01 for next month’s expired contract a week earlier.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate, or light sweet crude, for next month rose to US$99.98 from US$98.13.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold hit a three-month peak at US$1,321.52 an ounce — the highest point since Nov. 7 last year, as sister metal silver also reached a three-month high at US$21.30 an ounce.
China’s gold consumption soared 41.36 percent last year, industry data showed this week, with state media reporting on Tuesday that the country has probably overtaken India as the world’s largest consumer of the precious metal.
Last year, China consumed 1,176.4 tonnes of the yellow metal, the China Gold Association said in a statement.
By late on Friday on the London Bullion Market, the price of gold rallied to US$1,320 an ounce (28.4g) from US$1,259.25 a week earlier, while silver jumped to US$21.09 an ounce from US$19.87.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum grew to US$1,426 an ounce from US$1,379, as palladium gained to US$740 an ounce from US$711.
COFFEE: The price of coffee stayed around multi-month highs as dry weather in Brazil threatened output in the world’s biggest producer and exporter of the commodity.
The price surges are caused by “concerns about the impacts of the drought on the Brazilian coffee supply,” Commerzbank analysts said.
By Friday on ICE Futures US, Arabica for delivery in May stood at US$0.141 a pound (0.45kg), compared with US$0.13660 for next month’s contract a week earlier.
On LIFFE, Robusta for May traded at US$1,802 a tonne, compared with US$1,829 for next month’s contract.
SUGAR: Prices advanced in London and New York.
By Friday on LIFFE, the price of a tonne of white sugar for delivery in May stood at US$441 compared with US$432.50 for the March contract a week earlier.
On ICE Futures US, the price of unrefined sugar for delivery in May traded at US$0.15.94 a pound, compared with US$0.1568 for the contract due next month.
COMPETITION: AMD, Intel and Qualcomm are unveiling new laptop and desktop parts in Las Vegas, arguing their technologies provide the best performance for AI workloads Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), the second-biggest maker of computer processors, said its chips are to be used by Dell Technologies Inc for the first time in PCs sold to businesses. The chipmaker unveiled new processors it says would make AMD-based PCs the best at running artificial intelligence (AI) software. Dell has decided to use the chips in some of its computers aimed at business customers, AMD executives said at CES in Las Vegas on Monday. Dell’s embrace of AMD for corporate PCs — it already uses the chipmaker for consumer devices — is another blow for Intel Corp as the company
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TECH PULL: Electronics heavyweights also attracted strong buying ahead of the CES, analysts said. Meanwhile, Asian markets were mixed amid Trump’s incoming presidency Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares yesterday closed at a new high in the wake of a rally among tech stocks on Wall Street on Friday, moving the TAIEX sharply higher by more than 600 points. TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock in the TAIEX, rose 4.65 percent to close at a new high of NT$1,125, boosting its market value to NT$29.17 trillion (US$888 billion) and contributing about 400 points to the TAIEX’s rise. The TAIEX ended up 639.41 points, or 2.79 percent, at 23,547.71. Turnover totaled NT$406.478 billion, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. The surge in TSMC follows a positive performance
FUTURE TECH: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang would give the keynote speech at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, which is also expected to highlight autonomous vehicles Gadgets, robots and vehicles imbued with artificial intelligence (AI) would once again vie for attention at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week, as vendors behind the scenes would seek ways to deal with tariffs threatened by US president-elect Donald Trump. The annual Consumer Electronics Show opens formally in Las Vegas tomorrow, but preceding days are packed with product announcements. AI would be a major theme of the show, along with autonomous vehicles ranging from tractors and boats to lawn mowers and golf club trollies. “Everybody is going to be talking about AI,” Creative Strategies Inc analyst Carolina Milanesi said. “From fridges to ovens
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