Gold, grains wary after strikes
Gold, grains wary after strikes
Reuters, Singapore/Kuala Lumpur
Gold prices were flat in cautious Asian trade on Tuesday, and grain buyers scouted for a cargoes as the market kept a close eye on freight movements following the second round of U.S.-led strikes on Afghanistan.
Spot gold zigzagged in a tight fifty-cent range for much of the Asian day.
By late afternoon it was trading at US$291.50/2.50 an ounce, up slightly from the Hong Kong opening at $291.00/1.50.
"Gold is certainly benefiting from this whole feeling of global uncertainty," said Peter Tse, trader at precious metals dealers Scotia Mocatta in Hong Kong.
And in the non-ferrous metal markets, traders said renewed demand would depend a lot on how quickly the U.S. economy recovers. That was a very hard call given the start of U.S. and British military action against Taliban targets and training camps operated by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organization.
In grains, while Taiwan's importers said they would proceed with scheduled buying plans this week despite a rise in Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) futures prices, South Korean grain importers are taking a wait-and-see attitude, expecting international grain prices will ultimately fall. holiday on Monday.
The U.S. retaliation also failed to make a dent on Japan's grain buying plans as it resumed business after a national holiday on Monday.
Thai feed mills said they were worried about shipping disruptions following the U.S.-led strikes.
Malaysian palm oil futures ended sharply higher on a technical rebound but failed to break away from a key resistance level, analysts and traders said on Tuesday.
The benchmark third-month December palm oil contract was up 37 ringgit at 917 ringgit ($241.32) a ton after trading as high as 919 ringgit -- well below the major resistance of 925 ringgit.
Volume was heavy at 3,280 lots.
In physical palm oil, offers for October crude palm oil for the southern regions were quoted at 865 ringgit a ton against bids of 855. There were deals at 845 to 855 ringgit.
October CPO for the central region saw offers at 870 ringgit against bids of 860. Deals were done at 845 to 860 ringgit.