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.
TECH EFFECT: While Chiayi County was the oldest region in the nation, Hsinchu county and city, home of the nation’s chip industry, were the youngest, the report showed Seven of the nation’s administrative regions, encompassing 57.2 percent of Taiwan’s townships and villages, became “super-aged societies” in June, the Ministry of the Interior said in its latest report. A region is considered super-aged if 20 percent of the population is aged 65 or older. The ministry report showed that Taiwan had 4,391,744 people aged 65 or older as of June, representing 18.76 percent of the total population and an increase of 1,024,425 people compared with August 2018. In June, the nation’s elderly dependency ratio was 27.3 senior citizens per 100 working-aged people, an increase of 7.39 people over August 2018, it said. That
‘UNITED FRONT’: The married couple allegedly produced talk show videos for platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to influence Taiwan’s politics A husband and wife affiliated with the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) were indicted yesterday for allegedly receiving NT$74 million (US$2.32 million) from China to make radio and digital media propaganda to promote the Chinese government’s political agenda and influence the outcome of Taiwan’s elections. Chang Meng-chung (張孟崇) and his wife, Hung Wen-ting (洪文婷), allegedly received a total of NT$74 million from China between 2021 and last year to promote candidates favored by Beijing, contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and election laws, the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said. The couple acted as Beijing’s propaganda mouthpiece by disparaging Hong Kong democracy activists
EARLY ARRIVALS: The first sets of HIMARS purchased from the US arrived ahead of their scheduled delivery, with troops already training on the platforms, a source said The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said it spotted 35 Chinese military aircraft, including fighters and bombers, flying to the south of Taiwan proper on the way to exercises in the Pacific, a second consecutive day it has reported such activities. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not respond to a request for comment on the missions, reported just days before tomorrow’s US presidential election. The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Its arms sales to Taipei include a US$2 billion missile system announced last month. The MND said that from 9am yesterday,
A Control Yuan member yesterday said he would initiate an investigation into why the number of foreign nationals injured or killed in traffic incidents has nearly doubled in the past few years, and whether government agencies’ mechanisms were ineffective in ensuring road safety. Control Yuan member Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華) said in a news release that Taiwan has been described as a “living hell for pedestrians” and traffic safety has become an important national security issue. According to a National Audit Office report released last year, more than 780,000 foreign nationals were legally residing in Taiwan in 2019, which grew to more than
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