Oil prices dip on Opec pledge

business-times.asia1.com.sg January 13, 2003

(LONDON) Oil prices fell back last week after the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) oil ministers signalled they were ready to pump more oil to ward off an oil price spike threatened by a strike in Venezuela and the spectre of a war in Iraq.

But prices later recouped much of the losses amidst worries that crude will remain in short supply even after the extra crude eventually hits the market.

GOLD: Gold prices rose to US$356.10 per ounce at the start of last week on the London Bullion Market, the highest fixing since March 1997. By Friday afternoon, an ounce of the precious metal was fixed at US$353 per ounce against US$344.5 the previous week.

'A couple of things are driving it, the most significant being I think the continued weakness of the US dollar - this has attracted further speculative buying, particularly on the New York Comex floor,' said UBS Warburg analyst John Reade.

SILVER: Silver was fixed on the London Bullion Market at US$4.84 an ounce last Friday afternoon against US$4.785 the previous week.

PLATINUM and PALLADIUM: By last Friday, an ounce of platinum had firmed to US$618 on the London Platinum and Palladium Market from US$603 the previous week. Palladium rose to US$267 per ounce from US$236.

BASE METALS: Base metals prices rose in response to glimmers of hope seen in US economic data and strong demand for market leader copper.

On the London Metal Exchange (LME), three-month copper prices rose to US$1,642 per tonne from US$1,607 the week before. Three-month nickel prices rose US$410 per tonne to US$7,910 per tonne.

Three-month aluminium prices dipped US$5 per tonne to US$1,353. Elsewhere in the complex, three-month lead prices added US$2 per tonne to US$446, tin won US$65 per tonne to US$4,435 and zinc prices firmed US$11 per tonne to US$785.

OIL: On Friday, the price of benchmark Brent North Sea crude oil for February delivery stood at US$29.88 a barrel, against US$30.22 a week earlier.

In New York, February-dated light sweet crude futures traded at US$31.99, down from US$32.57 a week earlier.

RUBBER: In Kuala Lumpur, the RSS index rose to RM3.280 per kg from RM3.185 the previous week.

COCOA: On Liffe, London's financial futures exchange, the price of cocoa for May delivery climbed to 1,380 a tonne on Friday from 1,362 the previous week. On the CSCE, the New York futures market, the May contract gained to US$2,137 per tonne from US$2,082.

COFFEE: On the CSCE market, Arabica for March delivery fell to 62.70 US cents a pound last Thursday from 64.05 US cents the previous week.

On Liffe, Robusta quality for March delivery fell to US$825 a tonne last Thursday from US$845 the previous week.

SUGAR: On Liffe, a tonne of white sugar for March delivery rose to US$218 last Thursday from US$214.6 a week earlier.

On the CSCE, a pound of unrefined sugar for March delivery fell to 7.59 US cents from 7.69 US cents the previous week.

SOYA: On the Chicago Board of Trade (CBoT), a bushel of soya for January delivery advanced to 586.50 US cents last week from 584.50 US cents the previous week. Soyabean meal - used in animal feed - for January delivery fell to US$168.8 per tonne last week from US$171 the previous week.

Allendale analyst Joe Victor in Chicago said prices had shot up after China delayed signing the deal with Argentina.

The market received further bad news in the form of statistics from the US agriculture department, whose weekly export figures showed that 386,000 tonnes of soya had been exported.

GRAINS: Grain prices nudged higher, helped by an order placed by Egypt for 180,000 tonnes of soft winter wheat from the US.

But prices pared gains in response to disappointing weekly US export figures from the US agriculture department and an increase in subsidies to European wheat exporters, said Dan Cekander, US-based analyst with brokerage firm Fimat.

In Chicago a bushel of wheat for March delivery rose to 329 US cents last Thursday from 328.75 US cents a week earlier. A bushel of maize in Chicago for March delivery gained to 243.50 US cents from 237 US cents the previous week.

On Liffe, the price of a tonne of wheat for January delivery increased to 59.30 from 58.75 a week earlier.

COTTON: Cotton prices slipped back from recent highs as large speculative flows offset strong US export figures.

'Cotton prices are at high levels at the moment, but the market is a bit wary because of a very large speculative volume,' said Refco analyst Philippe Pesque.

In New York, the March contract fell to 51.06 US cents a pound last Thursday from 52.01 US cents the previous week.

The Cotton Outlook Index of physical cotton, the average of the world's lowest prices, inched up to 56.70 US cents from 56.50 US cents.

WOOL: Australian wool prices got off to a flying start when auctions re-started last week.

'The resumption of auction sales after a three-week break saw prices increase by 2 per cent on average,' the Australian Wool Industries Secretariat reported.

'Demand was led by the topmakers during last week. Purchases for China were relatively small, by their standard, and trade expectation is that this may remain so over the immediate period,' the secretariat added. The Australian Eastern index rose to A$11.89 per kg from A$11.65 before Christmas. The British Wooltops index was unchanged at 570 pence. - AFP