Markets dampened by Bernanke, factory data in focus
TOKYO, March 1 (Reuters) - Asian shares fell as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke put the brakes on a recent rally by checking optimism on the strength of the U.S. economic recovery without signalling any further monetary easing to stimulate growth.
"The recent rise in equities was for the most part due to ample liquidity so when expectations for further easing fade, that element will be stripped and may weigh on equities," said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief forex strategist at Barclays Capital.
FOREX-Dollar eases off 3-month low after Fed drops no easing hint
TOKYO, March 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar eased off a three-month low against a basket of currencies on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve chief stopped short of offering a clear hint of more bond buying.
The dollar index against a basket of currencies stood at 78.72, above a three-month low of 78.095 hit on Wednesday, while the euro traded at $1.3341 , having dropped more than 1 percent from a high of $1.3486 on EBS on Wednesday.
Wheat falls from 3-week top, soy dips after Feb rally
SINGAPORE, March 1 (Reuters) - U.S. wheat slid from a three-week top as the market was pressured by ample supplies, while soy dipped after posting its biggest monthly gains in a year on strong demand and concerns over South American output.
"I think there is a bit of profit-taking in the market, particularly soybeans as the upside has been so strong," said Abah Ofon, commodities analyst at Standard Chartered in Singapore.
Warm weather speeds up growth of U.S. wheat crop
CHICAGO, Feb 29 (Reuters) - Warm weather has sped up the growth of wheat crops in the southern U.S. Plains, raising concerns about the potential for damage down the line.
Crop development is ahead of schedule in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, top states for producing the variety of wheat used to make bread, according to government reports and an agronomist. That increases the risk of losses if a freeze hits this spring, as plants become more vulnerable to damage as they grow.
Brazil's 2012/13 cane crush to start late - Unica
SAO PAULO, Feb 29 (Reuters) - Brazil's 2012/13 (April-March) center-south cane crushing season will start about 10 days later on average than last year's harvest began, the cane industry association Unica said on Wednesday.
Dry weather during planting in early 2011 slowed the growth of the cane crop, which will delay deliveries of ripe cane for the new crushing season, analysts say.
Cold spell may cut French wheat crop by 1 mln T
PARIS, Feb 29 (Reuters) - Severe winter weather in the past month could cut this year's wheat crop in France, the European Union's top producer, by about 1 million tonnes or roughly 3 percent after plants were damaged in some regions, analysts said on Wednesday.
Parts of eastern and northeast France could lose 5-10 percent of the area sown with winter soft wheat, analysts Agritel and Offre & Demande Agricole (ODA) said in its first estimates of losses based on surveys of farmers.
India 2012/13 cotton area seen falling 10 percent
MUMBAI, Feb 29 (Reuters) - The area under cotton cultivation in India could fall up to 10 percent in 2012/13 season beginning in October, as lower returns from the fibre in 2011 may prompt farmers to switch to other crops, said the Cotton Association of India (CAI), a trade body.
Farmers are expected to increase area under crops such as soybean, guar, groundnuts and pulses as returns from these were higher than from cotton in 2011, Dhiren N. Sheth, president of the association, told Reuters.
Ukraine sees sharp rise in corn sowing area
KIEV, Feb 29 (Reuters) - Ukraine's Agriculture Ministry expects the area sown to corn to increase to 4.5 million-5.0 million hectares this year from 3.6 million hectares in 2011, it said on Wednesday, making up for winter grain plantings lost to drought and cold weather.
"The total area sown to grains will be 15.8 million tonnes, roughly the same as in 2011," Leonid Sukhomlin, the head of the ministry's grains unit, told an industry conference.
Global rubber output seen up 2.6 pct in 2012-ANRPC
SINGAPORE, Feb 29 (Reuters) - Global natural rubber output is expected to rise to 10.529 million tonnes in 2012, up 2.6 percent from 2011 because of better yields in some key growers, the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) said on Wednesday.
In early February, the ANRPC pegged 2012 production at 10.450 million tonnes. It also revised last year's output to 10.262 million tonnes from 10.127 million tonnes estimated earlier.
Brent steady above $122 on supply concerns, China, U.S.
SINGAPORE, March 1 (Reuters) - Brent crude futures held steady above $122, drawing support from a faster-than-expected expansion of the U.S. economy and better factory data from China amid concerns of supply disruption from the Middle East.
"There are just too many geopolitical risk factors out there that are supporting oil," said Tony Nunan, a risk manager at Mitsubishi Corp.
Mexico oil output seen stagnant next 14 yrs
MEXICO CITY, Feb 29 (Reuters) - Mexico's oil production is seen stagnating at around 2.8 million barrels per day (bpd) over the next 14 years unless the state oil company Pemex significantly boosts investment, the energy ministry said in a report on Wednesday.
The world's No. 7 oil producer currently produces 2.55 million bpd of oil, as Pemex has managed to stabilize a dramatic decline in production at its largest aging fields, most notably the giant Cantarell field.
Western sanctions already disrupt Iran oil exports -EIA
WASHINGTON, Feb 29 (Reuters) - Western sanctions on Iran are disrupting its oil exports and further restrictions could tighten global oil markets already hit by a rash of outages in other countries, a report required by the recent U.S. sanctions law said on Wednesday.
With world oil prices soaring, U.S. and European insurance companies are failing to insure deliveries of Iranian oil even before the full Western sanctions go into effect, according to a report by the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.
OPEC oil output rises to more than 3-year high
LONDON, Feb 29 (Reuters) - OPEC oil output has risen in February to the highest since October 2008 due to a further recovery in Libya's production, higher supplies from Angola and Saudi Arabia, a Reuters survey found on Wednesday.
Supply from all 12 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has averaged 31.23 million barrels per day (bpd), up from 30.95 million bpd in January, the survey of sources at oil companies, OPEC officials and analysts found.
Western sanctions tighten squeeze on Iran oil exports
March 1 (Reuters) - Western trade sanctions against Iran have begun to strangle its oil exports, a U.S. advisory body said, amid signs the squeeze on Tehran is only set to intensify and could push global crude prices higher unless Washington eases its grip.
With crude prices trading at around 10-month highs and limited spare production capacity world-wide to make up for the embargo on Iran, the United States may seek to offer Iran's major trade partners more room to move on sanctions.
IEA, EU see no need for oil stockpiles release
BRUSSELS/MEXICO CITY, Feb 29 (Reuters) - Oil consuming nations have no need to release stockpiles as they do not face a supply crunch, EU officials and the agency for consumers said on Wednesday after Washington announced it may use stocks to stem soaring gasoline prices in an election year.
Oil prices hit a 10-month high last week in dollar terms and an all-time high in euros and British pounds amid fears over a loss of Iranian oil supplies and a Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic's nuclear installations.
Copper tentative as China data may lessen easing
SINGAPORE, March 1 (Reuters) - London copper edged up after data showed top copper consumer China's manufacturing sector grew faster than forecast in February, although the modest gains showed investors needed greater motivation to take the market higher.
"This is also telling us that there's less possibility for China to loosen monetary policy further," with the economy getting back on its feet, said Bonnie Liu, a commodity analyst at Macquarie in Shanghai.
Philippines' 2011 metals output value at record high
MANILA, March 1 (Reuters) - The value of the Philippines' output of precious and base metals climbed 9 percent to a record $2.9 billion last year, with nickel leading the increase as miners ramped up production to take advantage of higher prices, government data showed on Thursday.
But the volume of gold output fell 24 percent for the year, the only metal that posted a decline, with the Philippine central bank's gold purchases from small-scale miners dropping 38 percent on suspected smuggling, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said in a statement.
Brazil mining output to grow 5-8 pct in 2012, 2013
BRASILIA, Feb 29 (Reuters) - Brazilian mining output should rise 5 to 8 percent in value in 2012 and again in 2013, pushed by rising production volumes rather than higher metals and mineral prices, an official at the country's mining industry association Ibram told Reuters.
Brazil is the world's No. 2 exporter of iron ore, the main steelmaking ingredient. Iron ore, gold and copper production are expected to soar in coming years as a result of $65.8 billion of planned mining-industry investment for the 2011-2015 period, the association said.
Chile says Jan copper output down 7.6 pct yr/yr
SANTIAGO, Feb 29 (Reuters) - Chile, which provides around one-third of the world's copper, produced 396,341 tonnes of the red metal in January , down 7.6 percent from the same month a year earlier, the government said on Wednesday.
Chile produced 509,407 tonnes of the red metal in December, up 2.2 percent from the same month a year earlier, the government said last month.
China iron ore imports may fall 14 pct in 2012-mining group
Feb 29 (Reuters) - China's iron ore imports may fall up to 14 percent this year as domestic output ramps up, a mining industry group said, possibly deflating prices that have been mostly driven higher by demand from the world's top buyer.
China buys around 60 percent of the world's seaborne iron ore, a market controlled by Australia and Brazil, because of the low quality of its domestic supply of the steelmaking raw material.
China daily crude steel output stays low in mid-February
SHANGHAI, March 1 (Reuters) - China's daily crude steel output stood at 1.699 million tonnes from Feb. 11-20, flat from 1.696 million tonnes during the preceding period, the latest data from the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) showed.
Daily production rates in the world's largest steel-producing country have been hovering below 1.7 million tonnes since November, after reaching some 2 million tonnes in June amid a construction boom. CISA revised its figures for early-February from 1.705 million tonnes.
Gold edges up 1 pct after plunge on Bernanke
SINGAPORE, March 1 (Reuters) - Spot gold rose more than 1 percent, recovering from its biggest fall in more than three years in the previous session when U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke failed to signal further monetary easing.
"But liquidity will remain the driver of financial markets -- this story has not changed, although it will be a fragile story in the sense that markets will be highly volatile."
METALS-Copper tentative as China data may lessen easing
SINGAPORE, March 1 (Reuters) - London copper edged up on Thursday after data showed top copper consumer China's manufacturing sector grew faster than forecast in February, although the modest gains showed investors needed greater motivation to take the market higher.
Copper has risen 12 percent this year, but analysts say Chinese demand has to recover strongly to justify a further increase in prices. While China's latest manufacturing data beat expectations, some think it could discourage more monetary easing by Beijing, which could dent copper demand.
PRECIOUS-Gold edges up 1 pct after plunge on Bernanke
SINGAPORE, March 1 (Reuters) - Spot gold rose more than 1 percent on Thursday, recovering from its biggest fall in more than three years in the previous session when U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke failed to signal further monetary easing.
Prices moved up rapidly after the Shanghai Gold Exchange started trading, as investors took advantage of a discount of about $10 in spot gold to Shanghai prices.
Investors have been hoping the Fed will launch another round of quantitative easing, pushing cheap money into the market that would boost inflation, against which gold is a traditional hedge, and give investors additional firepower to buy bullion.
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