Crude oil prices dived this week on fresh concerns about the pace of US economic recovery, while gold slid back under US$1,000 per ounce on profit-taking.
“It looks like there is a flood of money out of commodities,” said Ellis Eckland, an independent oil trader. “Investors want to get to the exit as soon as possible; they feel that the real economy is weak.”
Elsewhere, traders eyed the G20 nations’ two-day summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that began on Thursday.
OIL: Crude oil prices slumped on evidence of weak energy demand in the US.
The market had shed more than US$3 on Thursday as mixed US economic data and signs of sluggish oil demand highlighted fears about a tepid recovery from the global recession.
By Friday on the London InterContinental Exchange (ICE), Brent North Sea crude for delivery in November sank to US$65.38 a barrel from US$71.25 a week earlier.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), light sweet crude for November slid to US$66.62 from US$72.07 for the now-expired October contract a week earlier.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold prices retreated as traders cashed in gains from last week’s strong rally which saw the precious metal climb within a whisker of a record high.
Gold sank as low as US$985.28 per ounce on Friday, which was the lowest point for more than two weeks. By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold fell to US$991.50 an ounce from US$1,012 a week earlier.
Silver slid to US$16.20 an ounce from US$17.11.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum eased to US$1,330 an ounce at the late fixing on Friday from US$1,337.
BASE METALS: Base metals prices mostly fell amid concerns about Chinese demand tailing off.
By Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months sank to US$5,928 a tonne from US$6,220 a week earlier. Three-month aluminum fell to US$1,832 a tonne from US$1,929.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
RSS