Oil was supported above US$132 a barrel yesterday in Asia by ongoing worries about global petroleum supplies and the outlook this week for the US dollar.
The dollar has weakened over the last week after a modest recovery, and investors will be watching economic data out of the US to be released over the next few days for further clues about the health of the world’s biggest economy.
“The dollar’s been swinging down again,” said Mark Pervan, senior commodity strategist at Australia & New Zealand Bank in Melbourne, and that’s “going to sway sentiment.”
PHOTO: EPA
Oil and other hard commodities are seen as hedges against a weakening greenback and inflation. A weak dollar — the currency of international oil trade — also makes petroleum products less expensive to Asian and European buyers.
This week, investors will be watching for what implications US consumer confidence, new home sales, GDP and other economic data might have for the dollar and oil prices, he said.
“It’s a pretty price sensitive week for economic data,” Pervan said. “The data we’re seeing out of the US at the moment looks pretty weak. You’d expect that trend to continue, pushing further down on the dollar.”
The dollar, one of the factors that has fed oil’s rally from about US$65 a year ago, was weaker against the yen and the euro in Asian trading early afternoon in Tokyo.
Midday in Singapore, light, sweet crude for July delivery was up US$0.46 at US$132.65 a barrel in electronic trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose US$1.38 to settle at US$132.19 a barrel on Friday.
Last week, a series of supply warnings rattled composures, and on Thursday a report that the International Energy Agency was in the process of lowering its forecast for long-term global oil supply, sent crude futures rocketing to an all-time high of US$135.09 a barrel.
Investors are also worried about a growing squeeze on global diesel supplies as demand in China surges, sparking a massive runup in prices.
Over the weekend, China’s top economic planning agency again urged oil and power firms to make sure there are enough supplies for earthquake-hit areas and for the Beijing Olympic Games in August.
“It’s an upside down market. Weak economic data out of the US is positive for oil and commodity prices,” because of its effect on the dollar, Pervan said.
Normally, poor economic data out of the US, the world’s largest oil consumer by far, implies that demand and prices will fall.
Now, “it’s really the non-US market that’s the fundamental driver, whereas it’s the currency out of the US that’s dictating the prices,” Pervan said.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
‘WORLD’S LOSS’: Taiwan’s exclusion robs the world of the benefits it could get from one of the foremost practitioners of disease prevention and public health, Minister Chiu said Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an irreplaceable contributor to global health and disease prevention efforts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. He made the comment at a news conference in Taipei, hours before a Taiwanese delegation was to depart for Geneva, Switzerland, seeking to meet with foreign representatives for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the WHA, the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting, which would be held from Monday next week to May 27. As of yesterday, Taiwan had yet to receive an invitation. Taiwan has much to offer to the international community’s
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
RSS