Tuesday, March 1, 2011

20110301 0913 Global Market Related News.

OIL: Crude falls below $97 as Saudi output up, U.S. stocks to rise
SINGAPORE, March 1 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures fell below $97 on Tuesday after Saudi Arabia reassured the market with extra supply to meet a shortfall caused by Libya output cuts.
Investors will be looking at weekly U.S. industry and government inventory data to be released later on Tuesday.

COMMODITIES: Crude, gold drop as extra Saudi oil eases fear
NEW YORK, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Commodity investors remained concerned about protests in the Middle East on Monday but Saudi Arabia's reassurance that it would pump more oil unwound gains in crude and gold, while U.S. cocoa futures rocketed to a
32-year peak after gun battles erupted in Ivory Coast.
"The Saudi's are supposedly producing more, but on the supportive side there is still the uncertainty about how much the unrest in Africa and Middle East will spread and how long Libya's oil will be shut off," said Chris Dillman, analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.

GLOBAL MARKETS: Asia stocks rise, tracking Wall Street
SINGAPORE, March 1 (Reuters) - Asian stocks rose in early trade on Tuesday, tracking U.S. shares which gained on optimistic remarks from influential investor Warren Buffett and positive economic data, while the dollar sank to its lowest in more than three months.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei average climbed 0.8 percent and the broader Topix index rose 1.1 percent, while Australian shares also gained.

OECD: Real Demand Driving Commodities (Source: CME)
A report being prepared for the world's Group of 20 leading economies indicates the main factor behind rising prices for wheat, sugar, cotton, metals, oil and other commodities isn't speculators, as some have suggested, but that the global demand to consume these goods is growing faster than the supply. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's study, which is being put together ahead of the next G-20 meeting of finance officials in April in Washington, may lead to more efforts to boost commodities output around the world. It could also help temper criticism of the U.S. Federal Reserve's easy-money policies, which some policy makers have blamed for stoking global inflation. French President Nicholas Sarkozy, who heads the G-20, recently warned that rising commodity prices were a threat to the world economy and is one of several G-20 leaders who have blamed financial speculators for the strong increases in commodity prices in recent years.
The French leader earlier this month was critical of a draft report from the European Commission that had suggested no correlation between rising prices and a substantial increase in positions held by index funds. (The controversial paragraph was removed.)  Finance ministers and central bankers meeting in Paris a week ago said they would look into the underlying drivers of the price increases and consider possible actions. "It's very hard to distinguish between financial and structural factors behind the price increases, but it looks like demand and supply are playing the predominant role," Pier Carlo Padoan, chief economist and deputy secretary general at the OECD, said, describing the report's initial findings in an interview.

US economic growth trimmed, consumers more upbeat
WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - U.S. consumer confidence hit a three-year high in February, suggesting the economy remained on a solid footing despite soaring gasoline prices.
The rise in sentiment was a hopeful sign for the economic recovery after the government said on Friday that growth in the fourth quarter was not as robust as it previously estimated.

China FX chief says hard to invest in commodities
BEIJING, Feb 26 (Reuters) - China cannot invest much of its foreign currency riches in the global commodities market, because doing so would only push up the prices of the raw materials that the economy depends on, the country's top money manager said on Saturday.
Yi Gang, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), also said that monetary easing in wealthy countries was driving down China's returns on its $2.85 trillion in official currency reserves, the world's biggest such stockpile.

PRECIOUS-Gold rises above $1,410/oz on Mideast tensions
LONDON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Gold rose above $1,410 an ounce in Europe on Monday as turmoil in the Middle East region lifted safe-haven buying and fuelled a fresh spike in oil prices, stoking concerns over U.S. growth and knocking the dollar.
Spot gold  was bid at $1,411.15 an ounce at 1028 GMT, against $1,409.15 late in New York on Friday. U.S. gold futures for April delivery  rose $2.50 an ounce to $1,411.80.

FOREX-Dollar hurt by high oil prices, hits 3-mth low
LONDON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - The dollar fell to three-month lows on Monday on expectations that the threat to growth from high oil prices would keep U.S. monetary policy loose, contrasting with a more hawkish outlook elsewhere.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback's performance against a basket of major currencies, skidded to 76.812, its lowest level since November 9. The euro accounts for over half of the basket.

Wheat up half pct on strong consumer demand, soy dips
SINGAPORE, Feb 28 (Reuters) - U.S. wheat futures rose around half a percent extending gains as growing demand from top buyers in the Middle East continued to underpin the market amid concerns over supplies this year.
"The downside on wheat is going to be limited as governments across the world are going to ensure that there are adequate stocks, give the unrest," said Abah Ofon, an agricultural commodities analyst at Standard Chartered Bank.

S.Korea slashes import tariffs on corn, soymeal
SEOUL, Feb 28 (Reuters) - South Korea, heavily dependent on commodities imports and grappling with its worst foot-and-mouth outbreak, unveiled on Monday cuts to import tariffs on corn, soymeal and 32 other items to ensure supply and curb inflation.
The cuts are part of measures taking effect in early March that include previous decisions to expand tariff-free imports of pork, powdered milk, cheese and butter, the finance ministry said in a statement.

Oil rises on Middle East fears; stocks gain
LONDON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Oil prices advanced as protests in Oman raised concerns about supply from the Middle East, though world stocks rose and were on track to post their third straight month of gains on an improving growth outlook.
"There is the continued threat that conflicts will spread in the region that produces a large amount of oil in the world," said Ben Westmore, a commodities economist at the National Australia Bank.

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