The price of gold raced higher this week, reaching almost US$1,000 an ounce as investors sought a safe haven amid concerns over the strength of economic recovery, analysts said.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold prices surged as high as US$997.80 an ounce, helping to lift silver and platinum to multi-month highs.
“Gold stole the headlines ... as resurgent investment demand pushed the metal to its highs since February,” said James Moore, an analyst for TheBullionDesk.com.
By late on Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold was up to US$989 an ounce from US$955.50 a week earlier.
Silver jumped to US$15.95 an ounce from US$14.54.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum edged up to US$1,244 an ounce at the late fixing on Friday from US$1,242.
OIL: Crude oil prices slid from above US$70 a barrel this week, tracking stock markets lower.
They continued to fall on Friday after the world’s biggest energy consumer, the US, reported a rise in its unemployment rate and as traders booked profits before a long US holiday weekend.
Elsewhere, oil traders were gearing up for next week’s OPEC ministerial meeting in Vienna to decide on the cartel’s crude production levels. Angola, this year’s president of OPEC, has said the cartel should maintain production at existing levels during the meeting on Wednesday.
After falling sharply at the start of the week following heavy losses on the Chinese stock market, oil prices stabilized on Wednesday as official data showed US crude stocks had dropped by an expected 400,000 barrels.
News of a potential increase in supplies came on Wednesday as British energy major BP said it had made a “giant” oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico after drilling one of the industry’s deepest-ever wells.
By Friday on London’s InterContinental Exchange (ICE), Brent North Sea crude for delivery in October slumped to US$66.89 a barrel from US$72.85 a week earlier.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude for October tumbled to US$67.91 a barrel from US$72.70.
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
INDUSTRIAL CLUSTER: In Germany, the sector would be developed around Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s plant, and extend to Poland and the Czech Republic The Executive Yuan’s economic diplomacy task force has approved programs aimed at bolstering the nation’s chip diplomacy with Japan and European nations. The task force in its first meeting had its operational mechanism and organizational structure confirmed, with Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) the convener, and Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) and Minister Without Portfolio Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成) the deputy conveners. Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) would be the convener of the task force’s strategy group in charge of policy planning for economic diplomacy. The meeting was attended by the heads of the National Development Council, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the
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