COMMODITIES-Wheat, platinum lead roaring commodities rally Saturday, February 09, 2008 3:50:45 AM (GMT+07:00) Provided by: Reuters News By Barani Krishnan
NEW YORK, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Commodities from energy to metals and agriculture surged on Friday, with wheat and platinum hitting record highs for a straight week running on supply concerns. Funds also plowed into markets like sugar, coffee and cocoa, making analysts believe that commodities could trump stocks and bonds in the event of a U.S. or even a global recession. "Commodities seem to have the potential to outperform other asset classes in an economic downturn, and that might be the biggest power shift of all," Barclays Capital said in a commentary. Until a couple of weeks ago, key natural resource markets like oil, gold and copper saw volatile, mostly downward, moves as fears of a U.S. recession outweighed potential for higher prices from tight supplies. But this week, they broke free from their trading ranges as severe supply shocks that stretched from Asia to Africa and Latin America took prices to record levels. Platinum and gold rallied from power outages in South Africa. Copper spiked after hazardous winter weather in China. Oil surged from supply snags in Nigeria and the North Sea and an escalating legal battle between Exxon Mobil <XOM.N> and Venezuela, which dealers said could result in the South American nation suspending crude exports. Still, the upside in commodities could be limited again next week if the dollar -- poised on Friday for its biggest weekly gains since 2006 -- rose further, analysts said. A weak U.S. currency creates export advantages for buyers using foreign exchange to purchase dollar-denominated commodities. The opposite is true when the dollar rebounds. "Despite a torrent of bad economic news, the dollar has been on a tear this week, as the currency market recognized the fact that the slowdown in U.S. economic activity is likely to drag down growth in the rest of the G10 universe, forcing other central banks to adopt a much more accommodative monetary policy," said Boris Schlossberg, chief currency strategist with DailyFX.com in New York. U.S. crude oil <CLc1> rose 4 percent, its biggest gains in two months, as a chill in northern United States led to heavier demand forecasts for heating products. It ended up $3.66 at $91.77 a barrel. [O/R] The run-up in oil fueled a record high on the Reuters-Jefferies CRB Index <.CRB>, which tracks a basket of 19 commodity futures, including crude. Copper, a barometer for industrial metals' demand and economic health, jumped 3 percent to new three-month highs after fresh drawdowns in stocks of the metal warehoused with the London Metal Exchange. [COP/X] LME's three-month copper contract <MCU3> ended up $150 at $7,700 a tonne. Benchmark copper for March <HGH8> on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division settled up 8.55 cents at $3.5395 a lb. Futures of platinum, which struck record highs in seven out of the last eight sessions, reached a new high that was $15 short of $1,900 an ounce. COMEX platinum for April <PLJ8> closed at $1,884.90 an ounce, up $32.60 on the day, after scaling $1,885.00. COMEX gold <GCJ8> rose $12.30 to $922.30 an ounce. [GOL/X] On the agricultural front, front-month contracts in U.S. wheat were all locked limit-up, with March futures in Minneapolis <MWH8> hitting a new record $15.53 bushel. Chicago-traded rice for March <RRH8> also saw a record high, at $15.775 per hundredweight, before closing 30 cents up at $15.65. Chicago soybeans and corn rallied as well. (Editing by Marguerita Choy) --- In obrolan-bandar@yahoogroups.com, "jsx_consultant" <jsx- [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > ALERT: Harga logam, minyak, komoditi NAIK LAGI !!! > > Harga logam seperti mas, timah, nickel, tembaga, minyak dll > lagi NAIK LAGI.... > > Check di: http://ihedge.wordpress.com/chart-logam/ > > > Ada yg aneh NIH ?, masa mau RESESI tapi ada yg borong > komoditi. Liat grafik bulanan harga tembaga, pattern > DOUBLE BOTTOM sudah DIPATAHKAN, artinya kebutuhan > industri atas tembaga LAGI NAIK... > > Tinggal nunggu konfirmasi index Australia dan Asia > Senin pagi... > > Siapa tau BARONGSAI keluar hari Senin ?. >
