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.
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said