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.