PT. Equityworld Futures - Gold
demand fell for a third year on a slump in purchases from China,
costing the country its place as the world™s biggest buyer.
Global
demand slid 4 percent to a five-year low of 3,923.7 metric tons in
2014, the World Gold Council said in a report Thursday. In China,
purchases of bars and coins for investment dropped by 50 percent and
jewelry buying retreated from a record, according to the London-based
group.
The strengthening dollar and prospects for higher U.S.
interest rates have curbed gold™s appeal as a protection of wealth,
leading to two years of falling prices. While the metal has rebounded
over the past three months, it™s still within 10 percent of a four-year
low.
Gold
rose 3.2 percent to $1,222.62 an ounce in London this year, India took
China™s spot as biggest buyer of the metal, reclaiming the position it last held in 2012, after jewelry demand jumped to the highest level since at least 1995.
Purchases
of necklaces, bracelets and earrings by Indian shoppers rose 8 percent
even amid import restrictions, while Chinese consumers bought 33 percent
less. Combined bar and coin investment was down 50 percent in both
countries.
Gold futures dropped after the European Central Bank said it wouldn™t consider adding to bullion purchases.
The
ECB discussed buying all assets except the metal as it plans to
reassess stimulus next quarter, President Mario Draghi said today. The
comments come after Executive Board member Yves Mersch said last month
that the bank could œtheoretically buy bullion.
Gold
has rebounded 6.8 percent since touching a four-year low on Nov. 7 amid
speculation that lower prices would start to attract increased physical
purchases, including from central banks. Investor demand for precious
metals has waned amid a rally for equities and the dollar and as
inflation remained low.
Gold
futures for February delivery slipped 0.1 percent to settle at
$1,207.70 an ounce at 1:43 p.m. on the Comex in New York, dropping for
the second time in three days.
Gold
retreated as the dollar traded near a five-year high before a European
Central Bank meeting today that may give indications on further
stimulus.
The
Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed before data due tomorrow
that™s forecast to show U.S. jobs growth and amid speculation ECB
policy makers will signal more stimulus. President Mario Draghi said
last month they are open to buying a wide variety of assets.
The
greenback has strengthened as the Federal Reserve considers raising
borrowing costs while other central banks take steps to spur growth. A
stronger dollar and higher U.S. interest rates reduce gold™s allure
because the metal generally offers investors returns only through price
gains.
Gold
for February delivery fell 0.5 percent to $1,202.20 an ounce by 7:18
a.m. on the Comex in New York. Bullion for immediate delivery declined
0.6 percent to $1,202.25 in London, according to Bloomberg generic
pricing.
The
dollar strengthened to within 0.1 percent of 120 yen, reaching the
highest level since July 2007, as analysts forecast that U.S. job growth
will accelerate, boosting the economy while Japan™s remains mired in
recession.
While
the U.S. currency is being buoyed by signs of strength in the American
economy, the yen and the euro are weakening as their central banks
expand stimulus measures to boost growth. Europe™s shared currency
touched a two-year low today as traders awaited a monetary-policy
decision from the European Central Bank. Australia™s dollar slid for a
sixth day after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. forecast it would decline to 79
U.S. cents.
The
dollar rose 0.1 percent to 119.93 yen at 12:10 p.m. London time, after
rising to 119.98, the strongest level since July 2007. The U.S. currency
was little changed at $1.2313 per euro after appreciating to $1.2296,
the strongest since August 2012. The yen traded at 147.66 per euro.
About
$3 billion in options contracts with strikes at 120 yen per dollar
expire today, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, potentially
limiting the decline of the Japanese currency. The greenback appreciated
14 percent against the yen this year as the Fed moved closer to raising
interest rates while the Bank of Japan increased the scale of its bond
purchases as recently as October.
Gold
retreated after the biggest one-day rally in more than a year as
investors weighed the outlook for a stronger dollar against a rebound in
oil prices. Silver, platinum and palladium dropped.
Bullion
for immediate delivery declined as much as 0.7 percent to $1,203.45 an
ounce, and traded at $1,205.47 at 8:55 a.m. in Singapore, according to
Bloomberg generic pricing. The metal rallied yesterday to $1,221.43, the
highest level since Oct. 30, after climbing from a three-week low of
$1,142.88 as some investors ended bets on lower prices.
Gold
advanced 3.8 percent yesterday, the most since Sept. 2013, as crude
recovered from a five-year low and the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell
from the highest since 2009. The gauge of the U.S. currency remains 8.3
percent higher this year amid expectations that the Federal Reserve will
start to raise interest rates next year, hurting gold™s allure. Assets
in the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest exchange-traded product backed by
the metal, shrank 10 percent in 2014 to a six-year low.
Gold
dropped for a third month in November as the Fed assessed the timing of
rate rises, while other central banks added to stimulus, strengthening
the dollar. Policy makers at the European Central Bank and Bank of
England meet Dec. 4.
The
dollar declined from the highest level in more than five years amid
speculation the currency may have strengthened too much, too fast.
The greenback slipped
versus most of its 16 major peers after a gauge of the Bloomberg Dollar
Spot Index™s relative strength exceeded 70 on Nov. 28, a level some
traders consider a signal an asset may reverse course. Russia™s ruble
led a drop by some commodity-producing nations™ currencies as oil
reached a five-year low. The yen gained after weakening to a seven-year
low as Moody™s Investors Service cut Japan™s credit rating.
Bloomberg™s dollar
index, which tracks the greenback against the currencies of 10 trading
partners, sank 0.3 percent to 1,103.69 at 4:11 p.m. in New York. It
closed on Nov. 28 at 1,106.90, the highest level since March 2009, as it
gained for a sixth consecutive week.
The dollar fell 0.2
percent to 118.36 yen, after earlier touching 119.14 yen, the strongest
since August 2007. The U.S. currency depreciated 0.2 percent to $1.2473
per euro. The 18-nation currency was little changed at 147.64 yen.
West Texas
Intermediate crude fell for a second day as OPEC considered sparing
three nations from potential output cuts when the group meets in Vienna
this week.
Futures slid as much as 0.4 percent in New York.
Iraq, Iran and Libya wouldn™t have to trim supplies should the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agree to a reduction,
according to two people with knowledge of the proposal. This is not the
first time the market is oversupplied, Saudi Arabia™s Oil Minister Ali
Al-Naimi said in the Austrian capital.
Oil has collapsed into a bear market as the U.S.
pumps crude at the fastest rate in more than three decades amid signs of
a supply glut. Some OPEC producers are resisting calls to reduce
production while Venezuela and Ecuador seek action to support prices
ahead of discussions on Nov. 27.
WTI for January delivery dropped as much as 31
cents to $75.47 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York
Mercantile Exchange and was at $75.68 at 10:06 a.m. Sydney time. The
contract lost 73 cents to $75.78 yesterday. The volume of all futures
traded was about 43 percent below the 100-day average. Prices have
decreased 23 percent this year.
Brent for January settlement dropped 68 cents, or
0.9 percent, to $79.68 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe
exchange yesterday. The European benchmark crude ended the session at a
premium of $3.90 to WTI.
The
yen approached a seven-year low versus the dollar before Bank of Japan
Governor Haruhiko Kuroda speaks today, as policy diverges from the
Federal Reserve.
The
euro maintained gains from yesterday versus its major peers after
European Central Bank Governing Council member Jens Weidmann said
expanding bond purchases to government debt would face œlegal hurdles.
New Zealand™s dollar held its first decline in three days before a
quarterly Reserve Bank survey of inflation expectations. The BOJ today
releases minutes of its Oct. 31 meeting, when it surprised markets by
expanding stimulus two days after the Fed ended its bond-buying program.
The
yen slipped 0.1 percent to 118.43 per dollar at 8:47 a.m. in Tokyo from
yesterday, when it fell 0.4 percent. It reached 118.98 on Nov. 20, the
weakest since August 2007. The yen was little changed at 147.26 per
euro, after yesterday™s 0.8 percent slide. The euro traded at $1.2434
from $1.2442.
The
BOJ last month lifted the annual target for enlarging the monetary base
to 80 trillion yen ($675 billion), from 60 trillion yen to 70 trillion
yen. The policy board voted to retain the plan at the end of a two-day
meeting on Nov. 19. Kuroda is scheduled to speak at 10 a.m. in Nagoya
today.
The
Fed is moving to raise interest rates for the first time since 2006
after curtailing its quantitative-easing program. Futures traders
predict there™s a 50 percent chance rates will rise in September for the
first time since 2006.
The New Zealand dollar was little changed at 78.60 U.S. cents, after weakening 0.3 percent yesterday.
West Texas Intermediate crude rose for a second day as investors
weighed the likelihood OPEC will cut production when it meets in Vienna
next week.
Futures advanced as much as 1.2 percent in New York.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries may reduce its output
target by no more than 500,000 barrels a day, Bank of America Corp.
said in a note yesterday. Iran
will protect its share of global sales and can double exports in two
months if sanctions are removed, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh
said, according to the ministry’s news website Shana.
Oil has collapsed into a bear market as the U.S. pumps at the fastest rate
in more than three decades amid signs of weakening demand. Leading OPEC
members are resisting calls to reduce supply while others including Venezuela seek action to support prices before a Nov. 27 meeting.
WTI for January delivery increased as much as 88 cents to $76.73 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange
and was at $76.61 at 10:50 a.m. Sydney time. The December contract
expired yesterday after rising $1 to $75.58. Front-month prices are up 1
percent this week, heading for the first weekly gain since September.
Brent
for January settlement climbed $1.23, or 1.6 percent, to $79.33 a
barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange yesterday. The
European benchmark crude ended the session at a premium of $3.48 to WTI.
Natural gas futures rose in New York to the highest price in almost five months as a blast of arctic air spurred heating-fuel demand.
Prices
alternated between gains and losses before ending the session up 2.7
percent. The government’s Global Forecast System midday update showed
that temperatures will be below normal in the eastern U.S. next week
before moving closer to seasonal norms Nov. 30 through Dec. 4, according
to Frontier Weather Inc. Gas demand this week jumped to an eight-month
high as temperatures tumbled, according to LCI Energy Insight data.
“A very cold start to the winter has resurfaced repressed market memories of last winter, with fickle short-term weather forecasts
supporting the ongoing tug-of-war in natural gas prices,” said Teri
Viswanath, director of commodities strategy at BNP Paribas SA in New
York. “While the midday model runs showed a slightly warmer version of
the 11- to 15-day forecast period, there appears sufficient cold weather
to entice buyers.”
Natural gas for December delivery rose 11.8 cents to settle at $4.489 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange,
the highest close since June 25. Prices rose to $4.503 and dropped to
$4.25 during the session. Volume for all futures traded was more than
double the 100-day average at 3:48 p.m. Prices are up 22 percent from a
year ago.
Price Retreat
Gas retreated during the session
as futures faced resistance in the $4.50 range, said Ellen Stamm, global
natural gas analyst at Schneider Electric in Louisville, Kentucky. It will take colder weather to break through that level, she said.
December
$4.75 calls were the most active options in electronic trading, falling
0.6 cent to 2.3 cents on volume of 2,341 as of 3:48 p.m.
The
weather model for the 11- to 15-day period “averages a couple degrees
warmer than normal for just about everywhere east of the Rockies except
for the Northeast, which averages nearer to normal,” said Jim Southard,
meteorologist with Frontier in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The expected temperature range in St. Louis on Dec. 2 is now 43 degrees Fahrenheit (6 Celsius) to 51, up from the previously forecast range of 34 to 41, he said.
The noon model showed no significant changes in the forecast for the next week, Southard said. A surge of polar air from Canada
will push from the Great Plains to Florida Nov. 25 through Nov. 29,
with the Midwest seeing the strongest intensity of the cold, according
to MDA Weather Services in Gaithersburg, Maryland. About 49 percent of U.S. households use gas for heating.
Inventory Report
“This
is an earlier cold snap and when they have to eat into storage earlier
than they expected, that can make the market a little bit nervous,”
Chris Ellsworth, fuel branch chief with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s office of enforcement.
Gas
stockpiles fell 17 billion cubic feet in the week ended Nov. 14 to
3.594 trillion, topping the five-year average decline of 10 billion for
the period, the U.S. Energy Information Administration report showed.
Analyst estimates showed an expected drop of 11 billion, as did a survey
of Bloomberg users.
A deficit to weekly five-year average
inventory levels widened to 6.4 percent from 6.2 percent the previous
week, expanding for the first time since March.
Supplies were 5.3 percent below year-earlier inventories, compared with 5.7 percent in last week’s report.
Bigger Decline
Early
data indicates that the stockpile decline in next week’s report will
jump to 150 billion cubic feet, given the blast of arctic air sweeping
most of the lower 48 states, according to Viswanath and Stamm. The
five-year average drop for the seven days ending Nov. 21 is 6 billion.
Spectra
Corp.’s Algonquin gas pipeline in the Northeast curtailed 50 percent of
secondary nominations on the system at the end of last week and that
rose to about 80 percent as it got colder this week, said Valeria
Annibali, energy industry analyst at FERC’s enforcement office. That
signals less gas was available for power generators as more pipeline
capacity was used to serve firm contract holders, such as distribution
companies for households, she said.
Pipeline data this week also showed a notable shift in gas flows, with the Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania
and West Virginia meeting a bigger share of Northeast demand while
Louisiana and Gulf flows stopped in the mid-Atlantic region, she said. Gas demand jumped to 111.3 billion cubic feet on Nov. 18, the most for any day since Feb. 11, data show from LCI Energy in El Paso, Texas. Gas deliveries for the next day jumped to a seven-month high of $10.78 per million Btu on the day-ahead market on the Intercontinental Exchange. Algonquin prices today closed at $5.87.
“You expect prices like that in the depths of winter,” Ellsworth said.
Minyak mentahWest Texas Intermediate(WTI)
turun untuk hari keempat setelah persediaan minyak mentah AS naik, dan
investor mengkaji kemungkinan pemangkasan produksi minyak OPEC.
Minyak
berjangka melemah 0,4% di New York. Stok minyak mentah AS naik sebesar
2,6 juta barel pekan lalu menjadi 381.100.000, menurut laporan Energy Information Administration(EIA).
Organisasi Negara-negara Pengekspor Minyak (OPEC) harus memangkas
kelebihan pasokan dan mengurangi target produksi, Gubernur OPEC Libya
Samir Kamal mengatakan kemarin.
Minyak telah merosot kebear marketsetelah
Amerika Serikat meningkatkan suku bunga tertinggi dalam lebih dari tiga
dekade di tengah tanda-tanda melemahnya permintaan. Memimpin anggota
OPEC menolak permintaan untuk mengurangi produksi karena produsen minyak
yang lebih kecil seperti Venezuela mencari tindakan untuk mendukung
harga sebelum pertemuan 27 November mendatang di Wina.
Minyak
mentah WTI untuk pengiriman Desember, yang berakhir hari ini,
kehilangan 33 sen menjadi $ 74,25 per barel di perdagangan elektronikNew York Mercantile Exchangedan
berada di level $ 74,28 pada pukul 10:48 pagi waktu Sydney. Kontrak
bulan Januari yang lebih aktif turun 23 sen menjadi $ 74,27. Volume
semua berjangka yang diperdagangkan adalah sekitar 46% di bawah
rata-rata 100 hari. Harga WTI telah turun 25% dalam tahun ini.
Sementara minyak mentah Brent untuk pengiriman Januari turun 37 sen, atau 0,5%, ke $ 78,10 per barel di bursaICE Futures Europe exchangekemarin. Minyak mentah patokan Eropa mengakhiri sesi di level $ 3,60 lebih besar dari WTI untuk bulan yang sama.
OPEC,
yang memasok sekitar 40% dari minyak dunia, memompa 30.970.000 barel
per hari pada bulan Oktober, melampaui target produksi kolektif dari 30
juta barel untuk bulan kelima berturut-turut, data yang dikumpulkan oleh
Bloomberg menunjukkan.(frk)
Holdings in gold contracts reached the
highest in almost 22 months as investors added to bets that prices will
drop. Futures fell.
The aggregate number of futures contracts yet to be closed,
liquidated or delivered rose to 459,657 yesterday, the highest since
Jan. 22, 2013. Money managers have boosted their short wagers to the
highest in four weeks, while long holdings dropped to the lowest since
January, government data show.
Investor appetite for bullion has ebbed as the dollar jumped to the
highest since 2009 against a 10-currency basket and the Federal Reserve
moved closer to its first U.S. interest-rate increase in eight years,
cutting demand for the metal as an inflation hedge. Gold futures slumped
to the lowest in four years this month, heading for a second straight
annual loss.
Gold futures for December delivery lost 0.3 percent to settle at
$1,193.90 an ounce today on the Comex in New York. The metal fell to
$1,130.40 on Nov. 7, the lowest since April 2010.
Aggregate trading was more than double the 100-day average for this time, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Bullion has declined for two straight months, the longest slump this
year, as U.S. equities surged to a record and inflation failed to
accelerate. Fed officials said last month that lower energy costs may
hold down consumer costs in the near term.
Source: Bloomberg
Halliburton Co. (HAL) is in talks to buy Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI)
in a deal that would combine two of the largest and oldest names in the
energy business as plunging oil prices send the industry into a
downturn.
By eliminating a competitor, Halliburton, already the
world’s second-biggest provider of oilfield services, would gain market
clout that would help insulate it from a sustained market decline. A
combination of Halliburton with No. 3 Baker Hughes would be a little
more than half the size of larger rival Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB)
“The two gorillas in the room are getting together,” said Ed Hirs, who lectures on energy economics at the University of Houston.
“Halliburton and Baker Hughes would have been competing more
strenuously to maintain market share in the downturn, but this will make
that easier.”
Baker Hughes rose 15 percent yesterday to $58.75 a
share in New York, giving the company a market value of more than $25
billion. Halliburton rose 1.1 percent to $53.79, giving it a market
value of about $46 billion.
The deal will probably be closely
scrutinized by federal antitrust regulators, especially where the two
companies’ businesses overlap most in North America.
With
Baker Hughes, Halliburton fills a gap in its portfolio of oilfield
services: technology to boost production in aging wells. Halliburton
also gets Baker Hughes’ prized oil tools business.
Photographer: Aaron M. Sprecher/Bloomberg
Employees work in a lab at the Halliburton Co. facility in Houston.
‘Global Footprint’
“These
oilfield services companies need to have a global footprint of a
complete portfolio of products and services,” Richard Spears, vice
president at Tulsa, Oklahoma-based industry consultant Spears &
Associates said in a phone interview. “Schlumberger has it; a
Halliburton-Baker Hughes combination would mimic the Schlumberger
footprint.”
In a statement yesterday, Baker Hughes said it is in
“preliminary discussions” with Halliburton about a “potential business
combination.” If negotiations are successful, a deal could be announced
as soon as next week, said one person familiar with the matter, asking
not to be identified discussing private information.
Halliburton doesn’t comment on market speculation, Emily Mir, a spokeswoman at Halliburton, said in an e-mail.
Halliburton
initiated talks by contacting Baker Hughes several weeks ago, said one
of the people with knowledge of the talks. Both companies are hired by
oil and natural gas explorers to drill wells and provide services such
as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which cracks rock to let petroleum
flow more freely.
Photographer: George Frey/Bloomberg
Halliburton Co. workers support natural gas drilling operations in Rifle, Colorado.
Anti-Trust Questions
Discussions
of late have focused on potential anti-trust issues and Halliburton has
explored options such as setting up a unit to hold assets it’s willing
to divest, this person said. If the deal is completed, Halliburton and
Baker Hughes will probably announce to regulators a willingness to sell
assets to overcome anti-trust concerns, the person added.
Halliburton may have to divest more than 20 percent of Baker Hughes to clear regulatory scrutiny, this person added.
Combined,
the companies would dominate the $25 billion U.S. onshore fracking
market with a 39 percent market share, more than double the size of its
next competitor, Schlumberger, according to Spears & Associates.
Challenging Schlumberger
Schlumberger’s lead outside the U.S. and Canada
would be considerably weakened by a Halliburton-Baker Hughes deal.
Schlumberger’s international sales of $8.3 billion in the third quarter,
more than double that of a stand-alone Halliburton, would outstrip a
combined Halliburton-Baker Hughes by less than one third if a merger
happened.
It’s unlikely the deal could make it through the U.S. Department of Justice without “something having to be carved off,” said Edward Muztafago, an analyst for Societe Generale in New York.
Baker
Hughes would be Halliburton’s largest acquisition, topping a 1998
purchase of Dresser Industries Inc. for about $8 billion, data compiled
by Bloomberg show. Halliburton’s $14 billion in deals has lagged
Schlumberger’s $27 billion in takeovers, the data show.
The
takeover could be the largest of a U.S. oil services company, data
compiled by Bloomberg show, and potentially the largest in the energy
sector since Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) said in August it would acquire all of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP), Kinder Morgan Management LLC and El Paso Pipeline Partners LP in a series of transactions valued at about $44 billion.
Sinking Prices
Oil prices
dropped to four-year lows yesterday as booming U.S. crude production
combines with a shrinking forecast of demand growth. Lower prices could
curtail drilling, meaning lower sales for Halliburton and its peers.
Prices
should bottom out next year and begin climbing again, Dave Lesar, chief
executive officer at Halliburton, said Oct. 22 in an interview from his
Houston headquarters.
Both companies have century-old pedigrees
in the business. Baker Hughes has its roots in billionaire Howard Hughes
Jr.’s empire, started by his father in 1909. Hughes Tool Co. merged
with Baker International in 1987.
Halliburton was started in 1914
when Earl P. Halliburton borrowed a team of mules along with a wagon, a
pump, and a cement-mixing box to start a business cementing oil wells.
Halliburton
reported third-quarter earnings that climbed 70 percent from a year
earlier, and is expected to boost earnings 30 percent this quarter. The
company, which has doubled its quarterly dividend over the past two
years, reported cash of $2 billion at the end of the third quarter.
Baker Hughes said earnings rose 10 percent in the third quarter.
Credit
Suisse Group AG is advising Halliburton on the talks while Goldman
Sachs Group Inc. is advising Baker Hughes, one of the people said.
Representatives for both banks declined to comment.
OPEC producers are stepping up their diplomatic visits before the
group’s meeting in two weeks, potentially seeking a consensus on how to
react to oil prices that have plunged to a four-year low.
Libyan
Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani flew to Riyadh yesterday just as Iraqi
President Fouad Masoum left the kingdom after a two-day visit where he
met with King Abdullah, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela’s foreign minister and representative to OPEC, held talks in Algeria and Qatar. Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi toured Latin America.
“The
Saudis will not walk the road alone, they want to see everyone share
the burden with them,” Kuwait-based analyst Kamel al-Harami said by
phone. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is trying to
build consensus among fellow members of the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries before they meet Nov. 27 in Vienna, he said.
West
Texas Intermediate is poised for the longest run of weekly declines in
almost three decades amid speculation that OPEC will refrain from
cutting output to ease concern of a supply glut. WTI added 8 cents to
$74.29 a barrel and Brent gained 0.4 percent to $78.20 at 11:01 a.m. in London.
Photographer: Yasser al-Zayyat/AFP via Getty Images
Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi, seen here, toured Latin America.
Falling oil prices
are straining state budgets among OPEC members, including Iraq’s
government, which is leading a costly war against Islamist militants,
and Libya that is struggling to keep crude output steady amid political divisions and violence.
Iran’s Message
Iran’s
Islamic Republic News Agency said Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, the nation’s
oil minister, delivered a message to Kuwait on behalf of President
Hassan Rouhani. Zanganeh briefed Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al
Sabah on developments in oil markets, the agency said. He also went to
Qatar, IRNA reported.
Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro said he’d sent Ramirez to five countries, according to a televised address from Caracas.
“We are in a campaign to defend Venezuela,
Venezuelan oil, international markets and the price of oil,” Maduro was
cited as saying yesterday. “Oil sustains the development of our
economic and social life.”
Ramirez met with Algerian President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika, with both nations reaffirming a joint position to
defend prices, state-run news agency Algeria Press Service reported.
He
also went to Qatar where he discussed crude prices and stability of oil
markets with the Middle East country’s Prime Minister Abdullah bin
Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani and Energy Minister Mohammed Bin Saleh Al
Sada yesterday in Doha, Venezuela’s foreign ministry said in a
statement. He’s also is scheduled to travel to Iran and Russia, according to the ministry, while Maduro said the trip would include Mexico.
Photographer: Ashraf Shazly/AFP via Getty Images
Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani, seen here, flew to Riyadh yesterday.
All or Nothing
Saudi Arabia
remains committed to seeking a stable oil prices and speculation of a
battle between crude producers has no basis, Al-Naimi said Nov. 12 in
Mexico after a visit to Venezuela.
OPEC members Libya, Venezuela
and Ecuador have called for action to prevent crude from falling
further. Libya’s OPEC governor Samir Kamal said last month that the
group must cut daily output by 500,000 barrels as the market is
oversupplied by about 1 million barrels a day. This reflected his
personal view, he said at the time.
“They can all come to Saudi
Arabia and ask the Saudis to support oil prices, but that will not
change anything,” al-Harami said. “At the next meeting, Al-Naimi will
look for a cut by all the members and if he doesn’t get it, nothing will
change.”
Gold headed for a weekly decline as
investors assessed the timing of higher U.S. borrowing costs
amid slumping energy prices, with assets in the SPDR Gold Trust
posting the longest period of decline since May 2013.
Bullion for immediate delivery fell as much as 0.4 percent
to $1,157.94 an ounce, and traded at $1,160.41 at 8:48 a.m. in
Singapore, down 1.5 percent this week, according to Bloomberg
generic pricing. Holdings in the SPDR, the largest exchange-traded product backed by the metal, shrank to a six-year low of
720.62 metric tons yesterday, contracting for an eighth day.
Gold is heading for the first consecutive annual loss since
2000 as oil prices at a four-year low eroded demand for an
inflation hedge, and the Federal Reserve moves closer to the
first rate increase since 2006. Global demand slid 2.5 percent
in the third quarter from a year earlier to the lowest level
since 2009, the World Gold Council said yesterday. The Bloomberg
Dollar Spot Index traded near a five-year high before a U.S.
retail sales report today forecast to show a small increase.
“Unless some material change occurs in the U.S. economy,
we believe a rate hike remains on the cards, keeping gold price
weak,” Zhu Runyu, an analyst at CITIC Futures Co., a unit of
China’s largest listed brokerage, said in an e-mail today. New York Fed President William C. Dudley said raising
interest rates too early poses a bigger risk to the economy than
acting too late. Fed policy makers ended a bond-buying program
last month as the jobless rate fell to a six-year low.
Gold for December delivery lost 0.2 percent to $1,159.70 an
ounce on the Comex in New York, on course for a fourth week of
losses. Most-active prices are 3.7 percent lower this year after
losing 28 percent in 2013.
Silver for immediate delivery slid 0.6 percent to $15.5645
an ounce, heading for a fifth weekly drop, The metal retreated
20 percent this year and dropped to $15.0681 on Nov. 7, the
lowest price since February 2010.
Spot platinum traded at $1,193.63 an ounce from $1,196.50
yesterday, set for a fifth week of declines. Palladium was
little changed at $766.95 an ounce, poised for a second weekly
decrease.
Glencore Plc (GLEN), the world’s biggest
exporter of power-station coal, will stop production at its
Australian mines for three weeks as prices languish at a five-year low.
The decision to halt operations starting in mid-December
will rein in output in Australia by about 5 million metric tons,
the Baar, Switzerland-based company said in a statement today.
That’s equal to about 6 percent of Glencore’s Australian coal
production last year.
Glencore, led by Chief Executive Officer Ivan Glasenberg,
is tapping the brakes on what has been a steady period of growth
in coal production. A slide in prices has forced operators to
shut mines as lower-cost producers like Glencore raised output,
deepening a global glut.
“There is a broad, bearish tone in the market and
investors are focusing on the negative headlines,” Daniel Hynes, senior commodity strategist at Australia and New Zealand
Banking Group Ltd., said today by phone. “So whether this
actually supports the short-term price is debatable, but on a
fundamental basis it will help.”
Expanding Mines
Glencore, which proposed a merger with Rio Tinto Group in
July, reported earlier this month that it increased coal output
by 9.2 percent in the third quarter to 40.2 million tons, driven
by expansion at energy coal mines in Australia. Glencore’s
Australian coal output last year was 81 million tons, according
to a presentation in September.
The price of energy coal from Australia’s Newcastle port, a
benchmark for Asia, is down 27 percent this year to $61.85 a ton
last week, the lowest since 2009, according to McCloskey.
“We remain confident in demand growth for our products and
believe that the supply and demand balance will be restored in
the medium term,” the company said today.
In the iron ore industry, Glasenberg has argued that his
two biggest rivals have got it wrong by feeding a global glut.
Gold headed for a weekly decline as investors assessed the timing of
higher U.S. borrowing costs amid slumping energy prices, with assets in
the SPDR Gold Trust posting the longest period of decline since May
2013.
Bullion for immediate delivery fell as much as 0.4 percent
to $1,157.94 an ounce, and traded at $1,160.41 at 8:48 a.m. in
Singapore, down 1.5 percent this week, according to Bloomberg generic
pricing. Holdings in the SPDR, the largest exchange-traded product
backed by the metal, shrank to a six-year low of 720.62 metric tons
yesterday, contracting for an eighth day.
Gold is heading for the first consecutive annual loss since 2000 as oil prices at a four-year low eroded demand for an inflation hedge, and the Federal Reserve
moves closer to the first rate increase since 2006. Global demand slid
2.5 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier to the lowest level
since 2009, the World Gold Council said yesterday. The Bloomberg Dollar
Spot Index traded near a five-year high before a U.S. retail sales
report today forecast to show a small increase.
“Unless some material change occurs in the U.S. economy, we believe a rate hike remains on the cards, keeping gold price weak,” Zhu Runyu, an analyst at CITIC Futures Co., a unit of China’s largest listed brokerage, said in an e-mail today. New York Fed President William C. Dudley said raising interest rates
too early poses a bigger risk to the economy than acting too late. Fed
policy makers ended a bond-buying program last month as the jobless rate
fell to a six-year low.
Gold for December delivery lost 0.2
percent to $1,159.70 an ounce on the Comex in New York, on course for a
fourth week of losses. Most-active prices are 3.7 percent lower this
year after losing 28 percent in 2013.
Silver for immediate
delivery slid 0.6 percent to $15.5645 an ounce, heading for a fifth
weekly drop, The metal retreated 20 percent this year and dropped to
$15.0681 on Nov. 7, the lowest price since February 2010.
Spot
platinum traded at $1,193.63 an ounce from $1,196.50 yesterday, set for a
fifth week of declines. Palladium was little changed at $766.95 an
ounce, poised for a second weekly decrease.
Glencore Plc (GLEN),
the world’s biggest exporter of power-station coal, will stop
production at its Australian mines for three weeks as prices languish at
a five-year low.
The decision to halt operations starting in
mid-December will rein in output in Australia by about 5 million metric
tons, the Baar, Switzerland-based company said in a statement today.
That’s equal to about 6 percent of Glencore’s Australian coal production
last year.
Glencore, led by Chief Executive Officer Ivan
Glasenberg, is tapping the brakes on what has been a steady period of
growth in coal production. A slide in prices has forced operators to
shut mines as lower-cost producers like Glencore raised output,
deepening a global glut.
“There is a broad, bearish tone in the
market and investors are focusing on the negative headlines,” Daniel
Hynes, senior commodity strategist at Australia
and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., said today by phone. “So whether
this actually supports the short-term price is debatable, but on a
fundamental basis it will help.”
Expanding Mines
Glencore,
which proposed a merger with Rio Tinto Group in July, reported earlier
this month that it increased coal output by 9.2 percent in the third
quarter to 40.2 million tons, driven by expansion at energy coal mines
in Australia. Glencore’s Australian coal output last year was 81 million
tons, according to a presentation in September.
The price of energy coal from Australia’s Newcastle port, a benchmark for Asia, is down 27 percent this year to $61.85 a ton last week, the lowest since 2009, according to McCloskey.
“We
remain confident in demand growth for our products and believe that the
supply and demand balance will be restored in the medium term,” the
company said today.
In the iron ore industry, Glasenberg has argued that his two biggest rivals have got it wrong by feeding a global glut.
The yen traded 0.5 percent from a
seven-year low amid speculation Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will
call a general election to shore up support and postpone a planned
sales-tax increase.
The yen reached 116.10 per dollar this week,
the least since October 2007, after a ruling Liberal Democratic Party
lawmaker said preparations for a snap election have begun. It rebounded
yesterday after Finance Minister Taro Aso downplayed the possibility of a
delay in raising the levy. The euro held a loss before German data
forecast to confirm consumer prices fell last month. The Aussie traded
near the highest in a week before Chinese data on retail sales and
industrial production.
The yen traded at 115.50 per dollar as of
9:21 a.m. in Tokyo from 115.49 yesterday, when it rose 0.3 percent. It
was little changed at 143.66 per euro. The shared currency was at
$1.2434, after declining 0.3 percent in New York.
Australia™s dollar traded at 87.16 U.S. cents from 87.19 yesterday, when it touched 87.45, the most since Nov. 5.
Japan™s
currency has tumbled 5.5 percent against the dollar since Oct. 30, the
most among its developed-market peers, after policy makers surprised
investors at the end of last month with further currency-depreciating
stimulus from the Bank of Japan and pension reforms that allow more
money to flow abroad and into domestic stocks. Japan™s Nikkei 225 Stock
Average has surged 9.2 percent, and closed above 17,000 this week for
the first time in seven years.
The
rout that sent gold prices to a four-year low is also shaking boredom
out of the market, with a rebound in volatility that™s giving some
investors more reason to sell.
The
metal™s 30-day volatility is close to the highest since January,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The measure in October touched
the lowest since 2010, with investors ignoring gold in favor of equities
for most of the year.
Gains
for the U.S. labor market lured the bears back. The metal erased its
2014 advance just before the Federal Reserve said it would stop buying
bonds. The declines accelerated as the dollar climbed to a five-year
high against a basket of 10 currencies and tumbling energy costs
signaled tame inflation. In the week ended Nov. 4, hedge funds cut
net-bullish gold bets by the most this year, and short holdings rose for
the first time in a month, the most-recent U.S. government data show.
Gold
futures for delivery in December fell 0.3 percent to settle at
$1,159.10 an ounce at 1:40 p.m. on the Comex in New York. Earlier, the
price climbed as much as 0.6 percent. On Nov. 7, the metal touched
$1,130.40, the lowest for a most-active contract since April 2010.
