Euro edges off 5-mth high; Brent crude above $121
SINGAPORE, April 5 (Reuters) - Oil sat near a two-and-a-half year high scaled on fears of further supply disruptions from the Middle East and Africa and the euro edged off a five-month high against the dollar on Tuesday, with an expected euro zone rate rise already priced in.
"For the ECB, an April interest rate hike is a done deal and one or two more hikes are priced in," said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief FX strategist at Barclays Bank.
Brent crude near 2-1/2 year high; spreads widen on unrest
SINGAPORE, April 5 (Reuters) - Oil prices hovered near their highest levels since 2008, with Brent near $121 a barrel, as unrest in the Middle East and North Africa supported prices and on delays to elections in Nigeria.
"Anything that affects Brent or Africa is going to be important, especially under the current situation in Libya," said Tony Nunan, a risk manager with Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Corp.
US gasoline price rises 9 cents to April record-Govt
WASHINGTON, April 4 (Reuters) - U.S. gasoline prices soared nearly 9 cents over the last week to $3.68 a gallon, the highest pump price on record for April, the Energy Department said on Monday.
The national price for regular unleaded gasoline is up 86 cents from a year ago, based on the department's weekly survey of fuel prices at service stations.
Libya rebels may sell first oil cargo this week
LONDON/ATHENS, April 4 (Reuters) - Libyan rebels may this week sell the first tanker full of crude since an uprising against leader Muammar Gaddafi halted exports from the North African country and sent oil prices higher.
Satellite ship tracking data AIS showed on Monday that oil tanker Equator, which can carry up to 1 million barrels of oil, was due to arrive at the rebel-held east Libyan port of Marsa el Hariga on Tuesday. The tanker is currently anchored in Egyptian waters.
UK prompt gas falls as LNG supply hits record
LONDON, April 4 (Reuters) - Prompt British gas prices fell on Monday as input from liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals hit record highs and mild spring weather weighed on demand for gas.
Contracts across the curve rose in line with bullish crude prices, which traded at the highest level since summer 2008 as unrest in the Middle East and North Africa fuelled further concerns about oil supplies.
Corn hovers near record high, short supply woes persist
SYDNEY, April 5 (Reuters) - U.S. corn futures edged up to stay near record highs, erasing early losses, as continued worries over tight supplies in top exporter the United States helped stretch a rally.
"There's enough bullish news in the market to warrant further gains in corn prices," said Luke Mathews, commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, citing "catastrophically tight U.S. corn supplies and worries around the potential weather in the Northern Hemisphere for the new crop" which may hit yields.
Cuba buys 250,000 T rice from Vietnam -newspaper
HANOI, April 5 (Reuters) - Cuba has bought 250,000 tonnes of Vietnamese rice, a state-run newspaper reported on Tuesday, after the Latin American nation reported production falling at home last year.
The purchase was under a government contract signed recently, Vietnam Food Association Chairman Truong Thanh Phong was quoted by the Nguoi Lao Dong (Labourer) newspaper as saying. He gave no further details of the deal.
US winter wheat rated below year ago on dry weather
CHICAGO, April 4 (Reuters) - Condition ratings for the U.S. winter wheat crop were far below year-ago levels due to dry weather in key production areas, but spring seeding of corn was off to a strong start in far southern production areas, according to a U.S. Agriculture Department report released on Monday.
Only 37 percent of the U.S. winter wheat crop was rated in good to excellent condition as of April 3, compared with 65 percent in that category a year ago, according to the USDA's first weekly crop progress and condition report of the season.
Copper up, Bernanke cools inflation fears, Chinalco upbeat
SINGAPORE, April 5 (Reuters) - Base metals rose in London, up 0.4 percent on average, driven by copper which gained on the back of dovish comments on inflation from Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and on a positive market assessment from Chinalco.
"The expectation of growing consumption globally, as well as the supply picture, will lend strong support for copper prices," Liu Xiangming, vice president and executive director of Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco), said at the Asia Mining Conference in Singapore.
Japan earthquake revives miners' fears in Chile
SANTIAGO, April 4 (Reuters) - The earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japanese ports, roads and factories last month have revived fears over the vulnerability of the key copper mining industry across the Pacific in quake-prone Chile.
Chile, the world's top copper producer, is still rebuilding after a huge quake just over a year ago caused an estimated $30 billion in damage and lost economic productivity.
Silver hits 31-year top, iShares Silver at record
SINGAPORE, April 5 (Reuters) - Silver jumped to its highest since early 1980 on inflation concerns, a rise in ETF holdings to another record and growing industrial demand, while gold hardly moved as the euro held below this week's five-month high versus the dollar.
"We do see a lot of demand for silver from China, so we think silver used in solar panels have increased. We think China will have a lot of demand for silver in the medium to long term," said Natalie Robertson, commodities strategist at ANZ in Melbourne.
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