20110809 1547 Global Market & Commodities Related News.

Asia shares nosedive; gold scales another peak
SINGAPORE, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Stock markets plunged and the Swiss franc held near a record high as investors dumped riskier assets in a global rout triggered by fears that political leaders are failing to tackle debt crises in Europe and the United States.
"We have been cautious about the unfolding events in Europe for some time and are concerned about China slowing more than what is priced into the market," said Alex Hill, co-founder of Singapore-based hedge fund Tantallon Capital, which manages more than $300 million in assets.

GLOBAL MARKETS: Asia shares nosedive; gold scales another peak
SINGAPORE, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Asian stock markets nosedived on Tuesday and the Swiss franc held near a record high, as investors dumped riskier assets in a global rout triggered by fears that political leaders are failing to tackle debt crises in Europe and the United States.
"Market players are seeking emergency refuge and fleeing to safe assets," said a customer trader at a major Japanese bank in Tokyo. "In the money market, where there is heightened demand for dollars, dollar lenders are running away."

COMMODITIES: Gold hits peak, oil slumps on debt, growth fears
NEW YORK/LONDON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Gold soared anew to an all-time high on Monday while riskier assets including oil, grains and copper dived, as investors feared the U.S. loss of its prized AAA credit rating could stall economic growth.
"You're going to see a very high correlation with risk assets because there's still a perception that commodities are cyclical and the only area that will perform differently is the gold space," said Pau Morilla-Giner, head of commodities and senior portfolio manager at London & Capital.

Soy at 4-1/2 month low, corn falls as recession fear spreads
SINGAPORE, Aug 9 (Reuters) - U.S. soy lost more ground, dropping to its lowest since mid-March, while corn fell to a one-week low and wheat hovered near a one-month low on fears of recession in the United States following a cut in the country's credit rating.
"Grain and oilseed markets are sharply lower on pressure from external markets," said Kazuhiko Saito, chief commodities analyst at Tokyo-based trading company Fujitomi.

Vietnam 2011 coffee exports to dip to 1.15 mln T -Vicofa
HANOI, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Vietnam, the world's second-largest coffee producer after Brazil, will export 1.15 million tonnes of coffee, or 19.17 million bags, in calendar 2011, a drop of 5.43 percent from last year, an industry group said on Tuesday.
The estimate, released after an industry meeting, is below a forecast by the Agriculture Ministry last week, when it revised down the country's coffee export projection this year by nearly 5 percent to 1.2 million tonnes, or 20 million bags.

Mexico July coffee exports jump, harvest ends lower
MEXICO CITY, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Mexico's coffee exports rose 37 percent in July compared with the same month last year as the 2010/11 harvest draws to a close with 4.1 million bags of production, Mexico's coffee officials said on Monday.
Mexico shipped 256,828 60-kg bags of coffee last month compared with 187,131 exported in July last year, the national coffee association said.

Ivorian cocoa arrivals seen 25 pct over last season
ABIDJAN, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast reached around 1,382,000 tonnes by August 7, some 25 percent ahead of the same period last season, exporters estimated on Monday.
The figure compared with 1,108,560 tonnes in the same period of the previous season. Exporters estimated around 15,000 tonnes of beans were delivered to the West African state's two ports between Aug. 1 to 7, up from 7,953 tonnes in the same week a year ago.

Russia harvests grain from 30 pct of sown area
MOSCOW, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Russia has so far harvested 39.8 million tonnes of grain by bunker weight as the campaign gained momentum in almost all grain-growing regions after a slow start caused by rains, Agriculture Ministry said on Monday.
Farmers harvested grain from 30 percent of the sown area by Aug. 8, the ministry said, without providing a comparison for the same date last year, when the country was hit by a severe drought and had to accelerate the harvesting campaign.

Brazil soy area seen growing 3 pct - Agroconsult
SAO PAULO, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Brazil's soybean area is expected to grow 3 percent next season as attractive prices push producers to expand planting in frontier areas, analysts Agroconsult said on Monday.
The analysts said the area planted to soybeans would reach 25 million hectares (61.8 million acres) in 2011/12, up from the 24.2 million hectares this season.

Brazil coffee frost damage seen light in places
BRASILIA, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Damage from a frost that swept over Brazil's southeastern coffee belt on Friday should be light in some of the areas hit in the south of Minas Gerais state, cooperative Minasul said Monday.
Agronomist Gustavo Renno from Minasul, which handles around 1 million bags or roughly 2 percent of Brazil's crop each year in the top coffee state Minas Gerais, said few of its members' plantations were affected by the freeze.

OIL: Oil slumps 5 pct, US downgrade stokes econ angst
NEW YORK, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Oil plunged 5 percent on Monday, crashing below technical support levels as the reduction of the top-tier U.S. credit rating hammered markets and stoked concerns of an economic slowdown.
"In the tumultuous aftermath of the U.S. downgrade from S&P, the world also is downgrading the oil market," said Phil Flynn, analyst at PFGBest Research in Chicago.

Brent dives to 6-mth low below $99, U.S. crude at $76
SINGAPORE, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Brent crude plunged to a six-month trough below $99 a barrel in a two-session drop of more than $10, after a U.S. credit downgrade intensified fears about a global slowdown in demand for energy, sending commodities markets tumbling.
"I'm surprised how far it has fallen in all markets, this is panic," said Jeremy Friesen, a commodity strategist at Societe Generale in Hong Kong.

NATURAL GAS: NYMEX - Natgas shrugs off oil slide, ends flat on tech buying
NEW YORK, Aug 8 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures ended little changed on Monday, as more technical buying after last week's rout underpinned prices despite comfortable supplies, a steep slide in oil and moderating Northeast and Midwest weather this week that should slow demand.
"The market was short and technically oversold, but there's still some heat forecast for Texas and the South, and there's still the potential for a weather (storm) event," said Pax Saunders, analyst at Gelber & Associates in Houston.

EURO COAL: Prices soften on oil slide, turmoil
LONDON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Prompt physical coal prices fell on Monday in light trade with the market tracking a more than 3 percent slide in oil due to growing financial turmoil.
"The whole thing has come off on other factors such as oil," said a trader in Europe. "It's certainly outside factors and not fundamental coal issues. It's fairly balanced."

LME copper bounces off lowest in more than 8 mths
SHANGHAI, Aug 9 (Reuters) - London copper hit an eight-month low as investors dumped riskier assets in a global rout triggered by fears political leaders are failing to tackle debt crises in the United States and Europe.
"Sentiment is still dampened by the U.S. credit downgrade and most risk assets are seeing a downtrend. But we are seeing some mid-morning paring of losses. We have to look to the U.S. and Europe to see if they have any measures to calm the markets," said Shanghai Dongzheng futures trader Du Xiao Hua.

Gold hits record for second day as investors dump stocks
SINGAPORE, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Bullion gained more than 2 percent, roaring to all-time highs for a second consecutive session to stand above $1,750 as equity markets dived on growing fears of a global recession following last week's U.S. credit downgrade.  
"Markets are now worried about another global recession. Out of Europe, French bond yields have widened on expectation of sovereign debt downgrade because of the country's exposure to peripheral European debt," said Natalie Robertson, a commodities strategist at ANZ.