FOREX: The euro eased against the dollar, with the near-term focus on whether U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will give any hint of additional monetary stimulus when he gives testimony to Congress in coming days.
FOREX-Euro inches lower vs dollar, focus on Bernanke
SINGAPORE, July 16 (Reuters) - The euro eased against the dollar on Monday, with the near-term focus on whether U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will give any hint of additional monetary stimulus when he gives testimony to Congress in coming days.
The Australian dollar dipped but held on to the bulk of the gains it made on Friday when it drew strength from data showing that China, the main buyer of Australian exports, posted second quarter GDP growth of 7.6 percent, matching expectations.
Italy's govt sees 2012 GDP falling less than 2 pct
Italy's government will revise down its forecast for the economy this year to a contraction of less than 2 percent when it updates its economic targets in September, new economy minister Vittorio Grilli said in a newspaper interview published on Sunday.
Broker scandals demand futures industry reform, CME says
Futures exchange operator CME Group questioned on Friday whether brokers should be allowed to hold their customers' collateral, following the disclosure of massive fraud at failed brokerage PFGBest.
GRAINS: Chicago new-crop corn jumped 4 percent, while soybeans gained about 2.5 percent with both markets climbing to contract highs on forecasts of more stressful hot weather in the U.S. grain belt this week.
POLL-Canada canola harvest seen smashing record
Canadian farmers will blow away last year's canola harvest record, due to larger plantings and mostly favorable summer weather, according to a Reuters poll of 17 analysts and traders.
Iran issues new oil blockade warning
Iran could prevent even "a single drop of oil" passing through the Strait of Hormuz if its security is threatened, a naval chief said on Saturday, as tensions simmer over Tehran's nuclear programme.
Euro Coal-Sept DES ARA trades at $87.50/T, up $1
LONDON, July 13 (Reuters) - Physical prompt coal prices were bid slightly higher on Friday after five days of consecutive falls and few trades were reported.
Coal was particularly illiquid on Friday but was partly bolstered by a 1 percent rise in oil prices while it ignored falls in European power prices on more renewables and lower demand.
Thai builder plans gas, hydro, coal plants for Dawei
SIEM REAP, Cambodia, July 13 (Reuters) - Thailand's largest construction firm, Italian-Thai Development Pcl , plans to build separate coal, gas and hydro power plants for the initial stages of its $50 billion Dawei industrial zone in Myanmar, its president said on Friday.
Premchai Karnasuta said its Dawei Development Corp was seeking investors for a 250 megawatt plant fuelled by Burmese gas, a 670 MW hydro-power plant and a 400 MW coal power station using supercritical steam cycle technology.
OIL: Brent crude held steady above $102 per barrel on optimism over the outlook for demand growth as China's Premier Wen Jiabao said the government would step up efforts to boost the economy of the world's second-largest oil consumer.
COLUMN-China slows, China's steel sector doesn't
--Andy Home is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own--
LONDON, July 13 (Reuters) - The flurry of data out of China this morning confirmed what everyone already knew. The engine of global industrial production has shifted down a couple of gears. Headline GDP of 7.6 percent in the second quarter marked the slowest rate of growth in more than three years.
It's not good news for industrial metals, given that China has been the key driver of usage growth since the Great Contraction in 2008-2009.
Managed money cuts gold, silver longs, ups copper shorts
July 13 (Reuters) - Hedge funds and money managers cut their net long position in U.S. gold futures and options by nearly 20 percent in the week to July 10, as a price decline on deflation fears prompted speculators to reduce their bullish bets.
The group trimmed its net longs in gold by 19,305 to 88,973 lots in the period, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) Commitments of Traders showed.
India escalates US steel duties dispute at WTO
GENEVA, July 13 (Reuters) - India has asked the World Trade Organization to set up a panel to adjudicate on its dispute with the United States over U.S. duties on some imports of Indian steel products, the WTO said on Friday.
India complained in April that Washington had wrongly slapped punitive tariffs, so-called countervailing duties, on certain hot rolled carbon steel flat products from India.
Indonesia 2012 steel billet imports forecast to triple to 3 mln T
JAKARTA, July 13 (Reuters) - Indonesia is expected to import 3 million tonnes of steel billet this year, up from 1 million tonnes in 2011, after the local authorities tightened import procedures for scrap metal, restricting domestic supply, an industry group said on Friday.
About 70 pct of Indonesia's scrap consumption is imported, but new obstacles to such imports, raised after some shipments were found to have been mixed with hazardous waste materials, mean many iron and steel companies are switching to billet as a raw material for making steel products.
BASE METALS: London copper edged down after surging to a one-week high in the prior session but expectations of further stimulus from China helped put a floor under prices.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold traded flat, as investors returned to a wait-and-see mode ahead of a key presentation by the U.S. central bank chief later in the week as bullion remains sensitive to monetary policy changes.
METALS-LME copper comes off 1-week high; China stimulus eyed
SHANGHAI, July 16 (Reuters) - London copper edged down on Monday after hitting a one-week high in the prior session as surging agricultural futures drew some buying power away from base metals, but expectations of further stimulus from China helped put a floor under prices.
China's Premier Wen Jiabao said on Sunday that the government would step up efforts to boost the economy of the world's largest metal consumer, after data showed its economy slowed for the sixth successive quarter to expand by 7.6 percent in the April-June quarter.
PRECIOUS-Gold inches down as investors await Bernanke outlook
SINGAPORE, July 16 (Reuters) - Gold edged lower on Monday, tracking minor losses in the euro, while investors returned to a wait-and-see mode ahead of a key presentation by the U.S. central bank chief later in the week as bullion remains sensitive to monetary policy changes.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will present his semi-annual monetary policy report to Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday, from which investors will seek clues on the Fed's attitude towards another round of quantitative easing.
Iron Ore-Shanghai rebar hits contract low, demand woes persist
SINGAPORE, July 16 (Reuters) - China steel futures dropped more than 1 percent to a contract low on Monday as plentiful supplies pressured prices in the world's biggest steel market, where demand is not likely to recover until later in the year.
The decline in Shanghai rebar prices bucked gains elsewhere amid worries China's efforts to stimulate its economy -- which grew at its slowest pace in three years in the second quarter -- may not quickly translate to firm demand.
Indonesia 2012 steel billet imports forecast to triple to 3 mln T
JAKARTA, July 13 (Reuters) - Indonesia is expected to import 3 million tonnes of steel billet this year, up from 1 million tonnes in 2011, after the local authorities tightened import procedures for scrap metal, restricting domestic supply, an industry group said on Friday.
About 70 pct of Indonesia's scrap consumption is imported, but new obstacles to such imports, raised after some shipments were found to have been mixed with hazardous waste materials, mean many iron and steel companies are switching to billet as a raw material for making steel products.
Slump in capesize demand pushes Baltic index down
July 13 (Reuters) - The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry commodities, fell on Friday as a slump in capesize activity weighed on rates.
The overall index, which reflects the daily freight market prices for capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize dry bulk transport vessels, lost 11 points or 0.98 percent to 1,110 points.
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