TOKYO, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Global stocks fell to a 15-month low, pinning Asian stocks near a 16-month low, as investors shed riskier assets on growing doubts over Greece's ability to avoid default, fuelling fears of global financial turmoil and recession.
"Investors are cutting their exposure to risk as the most extreme risks -- such as Greek default -- are looming closer than they expected," said Jung Sang-jin, a senior fund manager at Dongbu Asset Management.
FTSE 100 Stocks Decline for Fifth Day; Barclays, Rio Tinto Shares Retreat (Bloomberg)
U.K. stocks declined for a fifth day as policy makers struggled to reassure investors they can contain the European debt crisis that is threatening to curb economic growth. Barclays Plc (BARC) fell 3.4 percent. Rio Tinto Group declined 2 percent. The benchmark FTSE 100 Index slid 84.39 points, or 1.7 percent, to 4,991.11 as of 8:28 a.m. in London. The FTSE All- Share Index fell 1.6 percent, while Ireland’s ISEQ Index retreated 2.8 percent.
European Stocks Decline for Third Day on Crisis (Bloomberg)
European stocks dropped for a third day amid waning optimism policy makers will be able to resolve the region’s debt crisis. Asian shares fell while U.S. index futures were little changed. Dexia SA (DEXB) lost 32 percent after the board asked Belgium’s biggest bank by assets to solve its “structural problems.” Air France-KLM (AF) Group and International Consolidated Airlines Group slid more than 3 percent after the head of the IATA industry association said profit forecasts may be unsustainable. The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 1.7 percent to 219.94 at 8:26 a.m. in London. The gauge has fallen 24 percent from this year’s peak on Feb. 17 as European and U.S. economic reports trailed forecasts, adding to concern that the global economic recovery is at risk. The decline has left the measure trading at 9.2 times estimated earnings, near the cheapest since March 2009, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Food, fuel price falls stir Asia inflation concern
NEW DELHI, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Anyone hoping that recent falls in commodity prices would provide a boost to powerhouse Asian economies and help lift the developed world out of recessionary danger will be disappointed. The region's focus remains firmly on inflation.
FOREX - Dollar near 9-mth high as bank fears grip market
TOKYO, Oct 4 (Reuters) - The dollar was supported near a 9-month high against a basket of currencies on Tuesday with the market gripped by fear that the debt crisis in Europe could unleash substantial damage on the global economy.
The euro hit a nine-month low in early Tuesday trade before posting a slim recovery, while the Australian dollar slipped to a one-year trough as market players continued to pull funds out of shares, copper and other risky growth-linked assets.
Commodities from crude to corn have slid in the last quarter, with many showing the most dramatic losses since 2008, when Lehman Brothers collapsed. The turnaround follows sharp gains earlier in 2011 when investors flocked to commodities on signs of strengthening economies.
US corn, soy fall on recession fears, supply pressure
SINGAPORE, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Chicago corn slid 0.7 percent , while soy fell around half a percent amid growing fears of a global recession and a rapidly progressing U.S. harvest that is ensuring ample supplies.
"From a fundamentals perspective the market is looking to see at what point this pullback in prices starts to simulate demand," said Brett Cooper, senior manager of markets at FCStone Australia.
Costa Rica exports more coffee in 2010/11 season-Icafe
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Costa Rica ended its 2010/11 coffee harvesting season with 2.8 percent more exports than during last year's cycle as producers took advantage of higher prices for their high-quality arabica beans, the national coffee institute Icafe said on Monday.
September coffee exports from the Central American country more than doubled from the same month in 2010 reaching 29,333 60-kg bags, Icafe said.
World cotton output seen up, US to miss forecast-ICAC
WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - World cotton output should increase in 2011/12, moderating the previous year's volatile prices, but United States production will miss government estimates, an international farm group said on Monday.
The International Cotton Advisory Committee secretariat said reports of crop failures in Texas and surveys of crop insurance claims in the United States suggest lower 2011/12 yields than the U.S. Department of Agriculture has projected.
Argentine soy crushing falls 21 percent in August
BUENOS AIRES, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Argentine soy crushing fell 21 percent year-on-year in August to 3 million tonnes, following a record 2009/10 crop and a smaller 2010/11 harvest, the government said in its latest crushing report.
Argentina is the world's largest supplier of soyoil and soymeal and the No. 3 exporter of the unprocessed oilseed.
In the first eight months of 2011, 24.4 million tonnes of soy were crushed in the South American country, up 3.4 percent from the same period last year, the Agriculture Ministry said.
La Nina-related dryness weighs on Argentine farming
BUENOS AIRES, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Parched Argentine wheat and corn crops should get some relief from rains later this week, easing the threat to future yields, a local weather forecaster said on Monday.
Scattered showers have done little over the last week to ease worries that the La Nina weather phenomenon will bring prolonged dryness for a second year running, but rains forecast for this week could help.
Rain to set next Brazil coffee crop in motion
BRASILIA, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Rains will reach Brazil's southeastern coffee belt early this week, prompting trees to flower for the 2012 crop, forecaster Somar said on Monday, and allaying fears dryness could persist and cut output.
The next crop from the world's top grower would normally be larger next year as it falls in an 'on-year' in the biennial cycle, feeding a larger supply than this year into what remains a tightly supplied market.Rains this week would not be heavy but Somar meteorologist Cassia Beu said they would be heavy enough to prompt
Brazil new soy crop seen at record 75.2 mln T-Celeres
SAO PAULO, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Brazil's new 2011/12 (September-August) soybean crop is seen at a record 75.2 million tonnes versus 74.9 million tonnes harvested last season, analysts Celeres said on Monday.
Area planted to soybeans is forecast to reach record territory at 25 million hectares (61.8 million acres), up 3.6 percent from last season, Celeres said in its monthly forecast of the crop.
Weather brightens Ivorian cocoa crop prospects
ABIDJAN, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's cocoa growing regions got light rain mixed with hot weather last week, perfect conditions for the development of the 2011-12 main crop, farmers said on Monday.
The West African nation kicked off its new season on Monday after a record 2010-11 harvest that yielded close to 1.5 million tonnes, and farmers said the first three months of the new season will bring abundant supply and good quality.
I.Coast cocoa body proposes sector overhaul
ABIDJAN, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's cocoa sector body CGFCC has proposed a guaranteed price system for farmers of the world's biggest cocoa crop in an industry overhaul designed to give them more reliable incomes, according to a CGFCC document obtained by Reuters.
The long-awaited reform was delayed by Ivory Coast's descent into a four-month conflict after last year's election and is the last remaining hurdle in the West African country's bid for a debt relief programme with international donors.
Swiss coffee body seeks European arbitration panel
LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - The Swiss Coffee Trade Association (SCTA), whose members handle the majority of world coffee exports, is lobbying for a pan-European arbitration panel after defaults caused problems for its members in 2010/11, the president of the association told Reuters.
"The challenge is to convince the European Coffee Federation of the importance of such a need and to convince the existing local arbitration bodies," said Nicolas Tamari, president of the SCTA and director-general of Sucafina, a Geneva-based coffee trading house.
Vietnam 2011/12 arabica output to rise 25 pct-top exporter
HANOI, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Vietnam's arabica output in the 2011/2012 crop year is forecast to rise by a quarter from the previous season to 50,000 tonnes, or 833,000 bags, thanks to an increase in both planting area and average yields, a leading exporter said on Monday.
Vietnam is the world's largest producer of robusta coffee but its arabica production is tiny compared with global producers. Still, higher arabica output plus a small amount of beans coming from neighbouring Laos could serve as an alternative supply for trading firms and roasters.
Brent falls below $101 on persisting Greek crisis
SINGAPORE, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Brent crude fell more than a dollar to below $101 a barrel , pressured by growing fears that a Greek debt default could spread and ignite a global recession.
"Brent crude continues to feel the weight of economic concerns as it appears that Greece will miss deficit targets and worries about the health of European banks remain," J.P. Morgan said in a research note.
Libya sees major pick-up in oil output in Oct
TRIPOLI, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Libya will start pumping crude at two major oilfields in about two weeks, doubling production to 700,000 barrels a day by year-end, the country's top oil industry official told Reuters in the latest sign that output is being restored far quicker than many had expected.
While the resumption in operations at Repsol-operated Sharara field and Eni part-owned Elephant will help to boost output, the head of the National Oil Corp also warned that Libya's biggest oil terminal at Es-Sider may take more than a year to be fully repaired.
China growth not enough to alone boost metals -CRU
LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Chinese growth prospects remain healthy but at lower rates and the world's top copper consumer cannot boost commodity markets on its own the way it did some three years ago, metals consultancy CRU said on Monday.
Paul Robinson, Group Manager Non Ferrous Metals at CRU, told a London Metal Exchange (LME) Week seminar that China would not build up stockpiles of the red metal as it did then.
Insights into uncertain metals market
Oct 3 (Reuters) - The metals industry gathers in London for the annual LME Week, with many participants hoping for an insight into commodity markets after a torrid few weeks due to global economic uncertainty.
Here are some analysts' views of what could lie ahead:
Aluminium prices can't fall much further -RUSAL
MOSCOW, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Global aluminium prices cannot fall much further, with as much as two-fifths of global production already unprofitable and demand likely to hold up, a senior executive at RUSAL , the world's largest producer of the metal, told Reuters.
"Prices for aluminium, in contrast to copper, have reached their minimum," Oleg Mukhamedshin, RUSAL's director of corporate development, said in an interview ahead of LME Week in London.
CRU ranks aluminium top base metal for consumption growth prospects
LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Aluminium is top among base metals in terms of consumption growth prospects, followed by nickel, zinc, copper, lead and lastly tin, Paul Robinson, Group Manager Non Ferrous Metals at CRU, told a London Metal Exchange Week seminar on Monday.
"Aluminium is both a nation-building metal and emerging middle class metal," he said, adding said that the beverage sector, for which alumInium is used in packaging, and the transport sector were strong.
Congo in talks with Malaysia Smelting over tin foundry
KINSHASA, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo is in talks with Malaysia Smelting Corporation over the construction of a foundry in the eastern Maniema province, the central African country's mines minister said.
"Talks are very advanced with a big foreign mining company, Malaysia Smelting Corporation, to set up a foundry in Kalima," Martin Kabwelulu told a mining conference on Monday.
Copper falls a fifth day on Greece default fears
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Copper fell for a fifth day as the threat of Greece's debt default increased, heightening concern the global economy will plunge into a recession and reduce demand for industrial metals.
On Monday, LME copper rebounded from its 14-month intraday low of $6,635 but still ended lower at $6,990, compared with Friday's close of $7,018.50.
China total copper consumption 8.2 mln T in 2011-Antaike
LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - China's total copper consumption is expected to rise to about 8.2 million tonnes this year from 7.44 million tonnes last year, Li Yusheng, senior copper analyst at state-backed research firm Antaike, said on Monday.
Total consumption included refined copper and copper in scrap used in the manufacturing of semi-finished copper products. Of the total, refined copper would be 7.38 million tonnes in 2011, Li told a seminar at the start of LME Week in London.
Rare earth processor Rhodia sceptical on stocks
LA ROCHELLE, France Oct 3 (Reuters) - French chemicals group Rhodia does not see stockpiling of rare earths by Europe as a pertinent response to Chinese export curbs, favouring efforts to diversify supply through mining and recycling projects, a senior executive said.
China accounts for more than 95 percent of worldwide output of rare earths and its decision last year to slash export quotas sent prices soaring and turned rare earths -- which are prized for their use in products like flat-screen televisions and electric cars -- into a political issue.
Metorex says copper output up 15 pct in July-Sept
JOHANNESBURG, Oct 3 - South African miner Metorex , the takeover target of Chinese metals group Jinchuan, said on Monday its copper output for the three months to end-September rose 15 percent from the previous quarter.
Metorex said in a statement production rose to 15,202 tonnes from 13,218 tonnes in the quarter to end-June, while cobalt production rose 11 percent to 942 tonnes.
METALS - Copper pulls up from 14-month low after US data
NEW YORK/LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Copper stemmed its worst sell-off since the financial crisis after a stronger-than-expected U.S. manufacturing expansion pulled prices up from a 14-month low hit early on Monday.
Worries about euro zone debt, shrinking global manufacturing and demand from top consumer China pressured prices, with benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange ending at $6,990 a tonne, down from Friday's close of $7,018.50, but recovering from a session low of $6,635, its weakest since July 21, 2010.
PRECIOUS - U.S. gold rises 1 pct on fears of Greek default
SINGAPORE, Oct 4 (Reuters) - U.S. gold futures jumped 1 percent on Tuesday as investors dumped equities and turned to bullion on growing fears that a Greek default could trigger another global recession.
As safe-haven buying lifted gold prices, stocks in Asia extended losses on doubts over Greece's ability to avoid default, copper fell for a fifth day and Brent crude fell more than a dollar to below $101 a barrel.
U.S. gold rises 1 pct on fears of Greek default
SINGAPORE, Oct 4 (Reuters) - U.S. gold futures jumped 1 percent on Tuesday as investors dumped equities and turned to bullion on growing fears that a Greek default could trigger another global recession.
"A sustained breach of $1,700 is needed for gold to resume its upward ascent. After the sell-off in gold earlier, this has reduced some of the speculative positions."
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