Prices of raw materials, including oil and gold, rebounded this week on growing signs of economic recovery in the US and China, traders said.
Positive US bank earnings and strong growth data from China led investors to believe that the world economy was on course to drag itself free of the worst downturn in decades.
“The US reporting season for 2009 corporate earnings had a good start and recent macro-economic data was by and large better than expected,” analysts at Dresdner Kleinwort said in note to clients. “This alongside a high level of liquidity or large cash holdings at investment funds boosted both equity and commodities markets.”
OIL: Prices advanced for a third straight day on Friday, buoyed by positive US housing construction data that could provide a lift for the recession-mired economy.
New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, gained US$1.52 to close at US$63.56 a barrel from US$59.16 one week earlier.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for September delivery advanced US$1.63 to settle at US$65.38 a barrel, from US$59.80 a week earlier. The August contract expired on Thursday at US$62.75.
The New York futures contract, which showed little direction at the market opening, shot up more than 3 percent after the US Commerce Department reported construction starts on privately owned homes rose 3.6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted rate of 582,000, the fastest pace since November.
PRECIOUS METALS: Precious metals advanced across the board.
“Precious metals remain very much at the mercy of the dollar and equity markets, with few independent drivers of their own,” said UBS analyst John Reade.
By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold rose to US$937.50 an ounce from US$913 a week earlier.
Silver climbed to US$13.16 an ounce from US$12.63.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum grew to US$1,165 an ounce at the late fixing on Friday, from US$1,095.
Palladium increased to US$245 an ounce from US$234.
BASE METALS: Base metals prices rallied. By Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months jumped to US$5,325 a tonne from US$4,890 a week earlier.
Three-month aluminum climbed to US$1,725 a tonne from US$1,574.
Three-month lead rose to US$1,675 a tonne from US$1,625.
GRAINS AND SOYA: Maize and soya prices fell as weather conditions in the US Midwest favored production. By Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade, maize for delivery in December dropped to US$3.26 a bushel from US$3.38 a week earlier.
The Taipei MRT is open all night tonight following New Year’s Eve festivities, and is offering free rides from nearby Green Line stations. Taipei’s 2025 New Year’s Eve celebrations kick off at Taipei City Hall Square tonight, with performances from the boy band Energy, the South Korean girl group Apink, and singers Gigi Leung (梁詠琪) and Faith Yang (楊乃文). Taipei 101’s annual New Year’s firework display follows at midnight, themed around Taiwan’s Premier12 baseball championship. Estimates say there will be about 200,000 people in attendance, which is more than usual as this year’s celebrations overlap with A-mei’s (張惠妹) concert at Taipei Dome. There are
LOOKING FOR WHEELS: The military is seeking 8x8 single-chassis vehicles to test the new missile and potentially replace the nation’s existing launch vehicles, the source said Taiwan is developing a hypersonic missile based on the Ching Tien (擎天) supersonic cruise missile, and a Czech-made truck has been tentatively selected as its launch vehicle, a source said yesterday. The Ching Tien, formerly known as Yun Feng (雲峰, “Cloud Peak”), is a domestically developed missile with a range of 1,200km to 2,000km being deployed in casemate-type positions as of last month, an official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The hypersonic missile to be derived from the Ching Tien would feature improved range and a mobile launch platform, while the latter would most likely be a 12x12 single chassis
UP AND DOWN: The route would include a 16.4km underground section from Zuoying to Fongshan and a 9.5km elevated part from Fongshan to Pingtung Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday confirmed a project to extend the high-speed rail (HSR) to Pingtung County through Kaohsiung. Cho made the announcement at a ceremony commemorating the completion of a dome at Kaohsiung Main Station. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications approved the HSR expansion in 2019 using a route that branches off a line from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung’s Zuoying District (左營). The project was ultimately delayed due to a lack of support for the route. The Zuoying route would have trains stop at the Zuoying Station and return to a junction before traveling southward to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝).
Parts of the nation, including in the south, could experience temperatures as low as 7°C early tomorrow morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. A strong continental cold air mass coupled with the effect of radiative cooling would bring cold weather to several northern cities and counties, and could even affect areas as far south as Tainan early tomorrow, the CWA said. Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties would experience temperatures below 10°C until this evening, according to cold surge advisories issued by the weather agency. The weather across the nation is forecast to remain
RSS