Commodities enjoyed a bright start to the year, with oil bouncing above US$83 and sugar striking a 29-year high as traders eyed recovery hopes despite poor US jobs data.
“We have been highlighting for some time that there is still considerable upside risk to commodity prices in early 2010,” Barclays Capital analyst Kevin Norrish said in a research note to clients.
Markets tailed off somewhat on Friday as traders digested news that the US, a major consumer of raw materials, shed more jobs than expected last month.
OIL: The market jumped in the first trading week of the year, largely because of a cold snap across the northern hemisphere which boosted heating fuel demand but players pared gains after a downbeat US jobs report.
New York crude topped US$83 on Wednesday for the first time in 14 months before closing lower on Thursday for the first time in 10 sessions as traders banked profits.
Oil begun the year with a bang on Monday, soaring by more than US$2 as freezing temperatures spread. Reports that Russia had cut supplies to Belarus also helped push prices higher, but officials in Belarus later denied the reports.
Gains for oil tailed off toward the end of the week in the wake of the latest US energy inventory data and the downbeat US non-farm payrolls report.
By late on Friday, New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery next month, rallied to US$82.22 a barrel from US$79.36 on Thursday of the previous week.
London’s Brent North Sea crude for next month advanced to US$81.05 from US$77.93.
PRECIOUS METALS: Platinum and palladium prices soared to equal recent highs after the US launch of exchange traded funds (ETFs) for both metals.
Platinum rallied as high as US$1,578 per ounce, the best level since August 2008 while palladium hit US$434.25 an ounce, the best since July that year.
By Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold rose to US$1,126.75 an ounce, from US$1,104 the previous Thursday before the New Year holiday break.
Silver soared to US$18.12 an ounce from US$16.99.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum soared to US$1,569 an ounce from US$1,466.
Palladium jumped to US$431 an ounce from US$402.
BASE METALS: Base metals diverged but copper hit multi-month highs on news of a strike in key producer Chile which was later settled.
Copper struck US$7,796 per tonne on Thursday, its highest level since August 2008.
By Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months jumped to US$7,525 a tonne from US$7,408 on Thursday the previous week.
SUGAR: Sugar prices scaled 29-year highs, lifted by predictions of lower output in emerging economic giant India.
By Friday on the New York Board of Trade, the price of unrefined sugar for March rose to US$0.2814 a pound from US$0.2724 on Thursday the previous week.
On LIFFE, London’s futures exchange, the price of a tonne of white sugar for delivery in March climbed to £730.30 from £706.30.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese
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