Gold Gains In Asia As Investors Look To US Nonfarm Payrolls - Gold prices rose in Asia on Friday with US nonfarm payrolls key for the precious metal and a reading of 190,000 new jobs added in December expected today. Overnight, gold prices moved off session lows shrugging off the prospect of further Federal Reserve rate hikes amid upbeat labor market data pointing to underlying strength in the US economy. The recent rally in gold futures came under pressure amid investor concerns that continued upbeat US economic data could strengthen the case for the Fed to raise rates more than currently priced in. Private payrolls grew by 250,000 for December, a sharp increase from the 185,000 private jobs created in the previous month, according to a report released Wednesday by ADP and Moody's Analytics. That beat economists’ forecast of 191,000. In a rising interest rate environment, investor appetite for gold weakens as the opportunity cost of holding the precious metal increases relative to other interest-bearing assets such as bonds. Losses in gold, however, were capped by a continued slump in the greenback as it struggled to rebound from three-month lows.
FeNi Luppen may change nickel
supply landscape - A similar product to nickel pig iron (NPI)
produced in Indonesia, FeNi Luppen, is set to change the global nickel supply
pattern if Chinese stainless steel mills are receptive, SMM learned. Backed by
Russian investors, Blackspace in Indonesia launched the nickel intermediate
product in 2017 and claimed the production could hit 200,000 nickel mt in 2019.
A source add that the company has made trial shipments to Chinese stainless
steel mills. This is a product that has gotten less attention compared with NPI
as the latter received heavy Chinese investment in Indonesia over the past
couple of years.
Having Trouble Taking Out Long-Term Tops - March Comex High Grade Copper
futures closed slightly higher on Thursday in a relatively volatile session.
The two-sided price action in the U.S. Dollar may have influenced copper’s
movement. There weren’t any major news events on Thursday with most traders
focusing on technically overbought conditions and on whether the hedge funds
will continue to buy at such lofty levels after an almost month long rally in
December. The recent price action suggests investors are deciding whether to
buy strength or wait for a pullback into a value zone.
Oil dips away from 2015 highs as doubts over rally emerge - Oil prices fell on Friday, dropping away from
highs last seen in 2015, as soaring production in the United States undermined
the 10 percent rally from lows hit in December that was driven by tightening
supply and political tensions in OPEC member Iran.Traders said political
tensions in Iran, third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC), had pushed prices higher. "The protests in
Iran add more fuel to the already bullish oil market mood," said Norbert
Ruecker, head of commodity research at Swiss bank Julius Baer. Oil prices have
received general support by production cuts led by OPEC and by Russia, which
started in January last year and are set to last through 2018, as well as by
strong economic growth and financial markets.
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