Thursday, April 28, 2011

20110428 1111 Global Market & Commodities Related News.

GLOBAL MARKETS: Dollar extends slide on Fed stance, stocks up
SYDNEY, April 28 (Reuters) - The dollar slumped to three-year lows on Thursday, U.S. crude hit a 2-1/2 year high and Asian stocks rose after the U.S. central bank signalled it was in no rush to scale back support for the economy, keeping intact demand for riskier assets.
"Despite increasing geopolitical risks and rising credit default spreads in peripheral Europe, the trend remains your friend in a weaker greenback," he wrote in a client note.

OIL: Oil rises after U.S. Fed move, gasoline draw
NEW YORK, April 27 (Reuters) - Oil rose on Wednesday after U.S. Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke gave no signs that the central bank was about to tighten monetary policy.
"The Fed is sticking to its policy, and, as a result, we have to expect recent trends in the dollar and commodities to remain intact," said John Kilduff, partner at hedge fund Again Capital in New York.

NATURAL GAS: Natural gas ends down for third day, May expires
NEW YORK, April 27 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures ended slightly lower on Wednesday for a third day, lightly pressured by milder Northeast and Midwest weather this week, but unusually high nuclear plant refueling outages and cooler Midwest forecasts for next week helped limit the downside.
"The weather moderated a bit this week, so we haven't seen much heating or air conditioning demand and prices have come off a little. It could be a struggle to go much higher until we see more heat," a Midwest trader said.

EURO COAL: Weak dollar, strong oil stabilise coal prices
LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - Prompt European delivered physical coal values were unchanged to 25 cents higher on Wednesday as rising oil, power and gas prices, alongside the dollar's continued weakness, compensated for poor demand.
"Prices haven't changed noticeably in Europe but the market is starting to improve in Asia and it may take some weeks for that to show up in prices generally," one European utility source said.

COMMODITIES: Gold hits record after Fed says low rates to stay
NEW YORK, April 27 (Reuters) - Gold rose to an all-time high near $1,530 an ounce on Wednesday and oil also went up after the Federal Reserve vowed to keep U.S. interest rates low for an extended period, which sent the dollar tumbling.
"There will be no speed about reversing policy ... (which is) good for gold," said Steel, who is HSBC's precious metals analyst and senior vice-president.

US natural gas supply estimate boosted-report
WASHINGTON, April 27 (Reuters) - The United States has more than 2,000 trillion cubic feet of potentially recoverable natural gas, a trade group said, boosting its estimate of the resource base by 4.3 percent.
The Potential Gas Committee's estimate in the biennial report on the "Technically Recoverable U.S. Natural Gas Environment" puts the size of the resource at a 46-year high.

Green claims of diesel cars disputed
LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - Modern diesel cars may not be as clean as previously thought, say some experts as regulators try to roll out industry standards to satisfy "green" consumers.
Filter technologies have cleaned up diesel cars traditionally viewed as far more polluting than gasoline rivals, but their soot emissions are now underestimated, say some analysts.

Obama urges oil producers to increase output
WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged world oil producers to lift crude output, as he sought to deflect public anger over high gasoline prices that has hurt his popularity among voters.
U.S. motor fuel prices have become a heated political issue after pushing toward $4 a gallon. Gasoline futures hit 33-month highs on Tuesday.

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