Relations between gold and silver have remained stable for more than one week while gold's correlation with platinum has been falling since the beginning of the week with correlation coefficient declining from 0.91 to 0.77. Gold's tie with palladium tumbled from 0.63 to 0.54 from the beginning of 2012. Meanwhile, gold's correlation with Dow Jones Industrial Average Index decreased to
Precious metals, excluding palladium, advanced on Thursday with the Dow Jones-UBS Precious Metals adding 0.56% over the day. Silver was the top gainer rallying 0.98% amid strong demand as US Mint announced American Eagle silver coin sales hit three-month high. Gold found support on the weaker US Dollar and increased demand in the US as Mont gold coin sales advanced
Base metals, excluding aluminium, continued to rally on hopes of steady China's demand and successful bond auctions in Italy and Spain. Copper, top performer, gained 2.89% over the day amid stronger Euro, expected supply disruptions from Indonesia and falling copper stocks in LME warehouses. Experts claim the LME inventories may decline further creating fresh stimulus for copper price. However, on
The Vietnam State Bank announced the country's gold imports are likely to rise close to 2.1 tons. The bank granted quotas on gold imports to 10 companies. Vietnam seeks the ways to diversify reserves from US Dollar and the Euro to limit the risk inherent to these currencies. Currently, the country's gold reserves amount 200-300 tons.
EU plans to postpone full ban on Iranian oil imports by six months as potential increase in energy prices would push the EU in even more severe recession. US, Europe and Asia supported the oil embargo on Thursday probably not fully considering the consequences of the ban.
The PBOC announced the country is preparing to marketize the interest rates. The reform of the financial system is conducted while taking all the specifics of the local and global economic situation, the bank added. However, currently the marketization should not take place in the fair market as it may impact the benefits of the bank's clients. Meanwhile, one-year lending
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. plans to reduce the number of jobs as the bank seeks to cut costs of the Australian operations. ANZ explained the redundancies as an inevitable measure to stay afloat amid difficult economic environment linked to revenue generation and funding costs. The bank did not provide the exact number of job cuts but said
Crude oil futures increased during the Asian trading hours on the broadly weaker US Dollar. The US Dollar index declined from 81.364 to 80.607. Light, sweet crude oil February contract advanced to $100.10 a barrel at the electronic trade, gaining 1%.
Japan's consumer sentiment rose in December, reflecting the first improvement in the last three quarters. The consumer sentiment diffusion index added 4.9 points to minus 57.5 last month from minus 62.4 in the preceding quarter. The indicator subtracts the number of people who believe the economic situation deteriorated over the last year from the number of individuals who say the
Barack Obama formally notified the Congress that US government needs to borrow another $1.2 trillion to meet existing commitments. Congress should vote during the next 15 days on the approval of the proposal that may raise debt ceiling to about $16.4 trillion. The government was near default in 2011 exceeding its debt ceiling. The proposal is expected to increase battles
Gold futures eased down during the electronic session following the declines in other metals' prices. COMEX gold futures for delivery in February traded at $1,642.40 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, during the Asian trading hours, losing 0.3% since opening.
Apple decided not to open the store on Friday because of safety concerns as more than a thousand people were standing in line and waiting for the store to open, said one of the customers. Many people were displeased with the decision and started to throw eggs in the shop's glass walls. Other Apple stores opened timely and sold their
Slovenia was trying to reassure the international lenders that the country is able not to follow Hungarian footsteps, even after the country's leader failed to shape the government. Slovenia's debt rating was cut from Aa3 to A1 by Moody's in December. Experts claim the overreliance on exports to the EU and political turmoil will lead to further credit downgrade and soaring borrowing costs. Currently, the
The CPI fell to 4.1% last month, hitting the 15-month last month. Experts believe the drop may force the government to ease its prudent monetary policy. However, fast policy easing might spark financial risk due to exorbitant money supply. Growing labour costs were the major drivers for decline in the CPI implying that monetary policies do not have to be
The US federal budget balance increased less than expected, according to official data released on Thursday. The US federal budget balance edged up to minus USD 86 billion from minus USD 137.3 billion in the previous month, reported Department of the Treasury. Experts predicted the balance to rise to minus USD 79 billion in December.
European equity markets closed lower on Thursday after Tesco Plc posted weaker than expected holiday sales and US also reported drop in retail sales in December. Upside support was provided from banking shares as Spain and Italy had successful bond auction. Stoxx Europe and FTSE 100 each lost 0.2%, German DAX managed to end in positive territory and closed 0.44% up.
Canadian Dollar fell against its major peers on Thursday trade after US, the biggest Canada's trading partner said the retail sales added only 0.1% in December compared to expected increase of 0.3%. Loonie traded at C$ 1.0191 in Toronto evening session. Currently USD/CAD is trading at C$ 1.0173.
The New Zealand and Australian Dollars depreciated against their major peers on Friday as weaker than expected US retail and employment data hampered demand for less safe assets. Kiwi weakened against greenback 0.3% to $0.7915 while its Australian peer lost 0.1% reaching $1.0321. Currently AUD/USD is trading at $1.0345 while NZD/USD is trading at 0.7927.
UK home prices climbed in December, reaching 8-month high, as the buyers hurried to complete their deals before the end of 2011 amid surging demand from investors, said Acadametrics Ltd. in its report The average value of home in Wales and England added 0.2% to $338 000 compared to November.
ECB President Mario Draghi announced his plan for curtailing European debt turmoil starts to work as large amount capital injection in region's financial system in December begin to oil credit markets amid falling Spanish and Italian borrowing costs. The Euro slightly appreciated after Draghi's announcement.
The Bank of Korea decided to keep its benchmark borrowing interest rate untouched for the seventh consecutive month stressing increasing exposure to European debt turmoil. Although weakening South Korean Won threatens to boost inflation, central bank kept its key interest rate at 3.25%. The decision match economists' expectations.
Chinese foreign exchange reserves fell in the fourth quarter for the first time since 1998, said People's Bank of China in its statement. The world's largest foreign exchange holdings dropped from $3.2 trillion on September to $3.18 trillion by the end of December last year. The decline may spur China's reluctance to appreciation of Yuan.
US trade deficit may have expanded in November mainly due to surge in crude oil imports, predict economists before official announcement due today. The trade gap is expected to widen from $43.5 bn in October to $45 bn in November, told economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The value of oil import dropped to 8-month record low in October and may have
US share markets traded higher on Thursday as investors expressed cautious optimism towards Europe's ability to tame its debt crisis. Dow Jones Industrial Average Index added 0.2% or 21.57 points and closed at 12,471.02 while Nasdaq Composite gained 0.5% or 13.94 points and finished at 2,724.70. S&P 500 was up 0.2% or 3.02 points at 1,295.50.