Gold prices smashed their way to fresh record highs close to US$1,250 this week, with demand driven by investors seeking shelter from the eurozone debt crisis, analysts said.
Oil prices tumbled, however, as a strengthening US dollar made the raw material more expensive for holders of other currencies.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold soared to US$1,249.40 an ounce on Friday on the London Bullion Market. Gold’s surge dragged sister metal silver to a two-year high of US$19.64 an ounce.
Heightened concerns about the risk of contagion from Greece’s debt woes have attracted fresh inflows of cash into gold, which is widely regarded as a safe bet in times of economic uncertainty.
“As long as skepticism with the eurozone plan remains synonymous with buying gold as a safe haven, we do not see any obstacle for US$1,300 per ounce before quarter’s end,” CMC Markets analyst Ashraf Laidi said.
By late on Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold climbed to US$1,236.50 an ounce from US$1,202.50 the previous week.
Silver surged to US$19.64 an ounce from US$17.70.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum rallied to US$1,721 an ounce from US$1,651.
Palladium grew to US$536 an ounce from US$505.
OIL: Oil prices tumbled further this week, hit by stubborn eurozone economic concerns, a strong US dollar and high US crude stockpiles, traders said.
The market began the week on a bright note, soaring on Monday after a EU-IMF eurozone rescue plan eased market concerns over the eurozone financial crisis.
However, prices have since fallen as market enthusiasm waned for the massive bailout plan, while concern grew about higher Chinese inflation that could slow global economic growth.
Oil also took a major hit from the stronger US dollar, which dented demand.
Meanwhile, the US government’s Department of Energy revealed on Wednesday that US crude stockpiles had risen by 1.9 million barrels last week, more than double the amount forecast by analysts.
By late on Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Texas light sweet crude for delivery in June sank to US$73.25 from US$75.81 a week earlier.
On London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for June delivery dropped to US$77.75 compared with US$78.55.
BASE METALS: Base metals prices mostly fell. By Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months rose to US$6,908 a tonne from US$6,891 a week earlier.
Three-month aluminum rose to US$2,093 a tonne from US$2,090.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
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