Asian Stocks Drop as S&P Puts Euro Nations on Downgrade Watch (Bloomberg)
Asian stocks fell, with a benchmark gauge headed for its first loss in seven days, after Standard & Poor’s said it may cut credit ratings on Germany, France and 13 other members of the euro amid the worsening debt crisis. STX Pan Ocean Co., a South Korean shipping line, dropped 4.8 percent in Seoul after saying a leak was found in its vessel. Toyota Motor Corp. (7203), the world’s biggest carmaker by market value, slid 1.4 percent in Tokyo. Tosoh Corp., a maker of chemical products, slid 4.4 percent after Mizuho Securities Co. cut its rating on the stock to “neutral” from “buy.” Newcrest Mining Ltd. (NCM), an Australian gold producer, declined 2.7 percent after Deutsche Bank AG cut its rating to “hold” from “buy.”
“People want to move away from risk assets,” said Naoteru Teraoka, general manager at Tokyo-based Chuo Mitsui Asset Management Co., which oversees about $20 billion. “The market is unstable and has been moving up and down like a seesaw. Investors buy stocks (MXAPJ) on good news after a plunge and are selling unless the news moves in the right direction. The downgrade news is a bad story in the middle of such movements.”
GLOBAL MARKETS: Asian stocks and the euro dipped on Tuesday after ratings agency Standard & Poor's warned it might downgrade euro zone countries en masse, piling pressure on European leaders ahead of a summit later this week. "The plan is so wide-ranging that after the initial reaction, investors lost some enthusiasm as reality set in once again," said Phil Flynn, analyst at PFGBest Research in Chicago. (Reuters)
COMMODITIES: Oil settled almost flat on Monday as fears about Europe's credit ratings wiped out early gains built on tensions involving Iran, and copper edged up on bets China would have a soft economic landing. "The price decline late in the session appeared driven by reports that S&P may be downgrading some European nations including Germany," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois. (Reuters)
Ecuador oil exports down nearly a third in October QUITO, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Ecuador's oil exports fell 30.5 percent in October to an average of 251,741 barrels per day (bpd) compared with the same month last year, the country's Central Bank said on Monday. The bank did not give a reason for the decrease. It said export revenue fell 5.5 percent to $791.5 million in October. Average prices for Napo and Oriente, the two types of crude exported by the South American country, increased to $101.4 per barrel, up from $74.6 during the same month last year.
OPEC heading for oil target deal at near 30 mln bpd By Amena Bakr and Richard Mably DOHA/LONDON, Dec 5 (Reuters) - OPEC oil producers, at odds over supply policy since June, look set at a mid- December meeting to agree a new production target that legitimises current cartel output around 30 million barrels a day. OPEC's leading price hawk Iran, appears to have given up its campaign to have Gulf Arab nations including top producer Saudi Arabia cut back supply. Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi told Reuters on Monday that Tehran would be guided by the recommendations of the cartel's Vienna-based secretariat. "All OPEC members should really follow those OPEC recommendations because the secretariat is expert," said Qasemi in an interview in Doha. "This meeting there will be an agreement, I think. We don't have big differences, really." Qasemi met with UAE Oil Minister Mohamed al-Hamli at an industry conference in Qatar on Wednesday in a bid to try to mend fences with one of the three Gulf Arab producers, a close ally of Saudi. No numbers were discussed. But delegates say OPEC's Vienna-based secretariat will recommend to a meeting of OPEC national experts, its Economic Commission Board, ahead of the Dec. 14 ministerial meeting that 30 million barrels daily is required from the group in the first half of 2012. The secretariat is forecasting demand for OPEC crude at 29.9 million bpd in the first quarter and 28.7 million bpd in the second quarter, the annual period of slowest global fuel demand. While the second quarter figure is well short of OPEC's current output, the secretariat will argue that inventories, having fallen sharply this year, will need replenishing in the second quarter. Gulf producers, including Saudi Arabia, are also expected to line up behind the secretariat's forecasts. "Normally the secretariat's numbers, if they are in line with the other leading forecasters, are the proposal that it makes sense to follow," said a Gulf OPEC delegate. OPEC sees average 2012 demand for OPEC crude at 30 million bpd compared to 29.8 million bpd from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and 30.4 million bpd from the Paris-based International Energy Agency.
OIL: Oil prices gave up early gains on Monday after the euro slipped against the dollar on a report that several major European countries may be put on "creditwatch negative" by ratings agency Standard & Poor's. "The price decline late in the session appeared driven by reports that S&P may be downgrading some European nations including Germany," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois. (Reuters)
NATURAL GAS: U.S. natural gas futures ended down sharply on Monday, as record-high supplies and fairly mild early-week weather in the Northeast and Midwest pressured the complex despite a chilly outlook later this week. "It is going to have to get a lot colder over a much broader portion of the U.S. for demand to start to have an impact on the current oversupply situation ... including the all-time record high amount of (natural gas) already sitting in inventory," the Energy Management Institute's Dominick Chirichella said in a report. (Reuters)
EUROCOAL: Physical prompt coal prices moved up by around 25-50 cents on Monday in line with oil's gains. "Oil's been the driver again, fundamentals are taking a back seat but the gap between API4 swaps and Richards Bay prices is too wide again and that's putting off buyers," one exporter said. (Reuters)
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