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Reuters and Agencies
Silver seen steady
Silver needs to push towards$5.18 to prevent a retracement from Wednesday's gains, dealers said on Thursday. Gold was expected to hold a $290/$295 range in nervous and thin trade watching currency and stock markets, but could break either way, they added. Platinum was seen weak.
Copper falling
Copper is expected to find fresh12-1/2 year lows on Thursday as bearish fundamentals and charts continue to pressure the market, dealers and analysts said. A $1,280/$1,320 range was seen containing aluminium trade,although support was vulnerable, they added.
Newcrest gets gold mine approval
Newcrest Mining Ltd said on Wednesday it had received the final approvals from the Indonesian government needed to go ahead with the A$90 million Gosowong gold project and it expected production to begin in early 1999/2000 (July-June). "I am happy to report that last Friday, we received the final major approvals for the project," Newcrest Chief executive Gordon Galt told the group'sannual meeting. "Construction is underway and we believe that Gosowong will be in production early in the next Financial year," Galt said. Newcrest said in May it still had to carry out environmental studies, but the government was keen for such projects to start as quickly as possible.
Kuwait backs Saudi warning to Opec
Kuwait oil minister Sheikh Saud Nasser al-Sabah thanked Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for issuing a warning to fellow Opec states who failed to fully comply with pledged output cuts. "I am grateful to His Highness (Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah)for this statement," Sheikh Saud told reporters before flying to South Africa to attend an oil conference where he will also discuss measures needed to boost world oil prices. Prince Abdullah, in a rare public statement, said other Opec nations were to blame for continued low prices because they had failed to fully implement agreements on cutting supply from the glutted world market. Sheikh Saud warned Opec and non-Opec producers on October13against violations and a production war, stressing that Gulf Arab allies would suffer the least as they could damage the economies of others with their huge reserves and low crude oil production costs.
Tokyo naphtha higher
Tokyo naphtha prices went higher on Thursday, supported by healthy buying interest from petrochemical manufacturers in east Asia, as well as firmer crude futures markets overnight, traders said. Petrochemical product demand from China, which has caused production rises at petrochemical plants in South Korea and Japan since early autumn, was likely to remain brisk at least until the end of November, judging from China's buying pattern in the past, traders said. Open-spec naphtha for first-half January was assessed at$151.50/$152.50 per tonne in afternoon trade. It was traded at $150.50 on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, a second-half January contract was sold twice at $149.50. In low sulphur waxy residue (LSWR), bids for November cargoes were heard at around 40 cents per barrelover the Pertamina formula, against offers at the formula plus 70-80 cents, fuel oil traders said.
Centre to review DAP supply
The centre would review the di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) availability in Punjab on a weekly basis and ensure supply of at least 3.5 lakh tonnes during the current rabi season, fertiliser minister SS Barnala has said. Speaking after a meeting with the chief secretary and the financial commissioner of Punjab and officials of railways and fertiliser companies here on Wednesday, Barnala said Punjab would not face any shortage of fertilisers. Ministry sources said unfavourable weather conditions had adversely affected potato, cotton and flower crops in the state. Discouraged by losses in these crops, farmers were opting for allocating their resources to wheat crop in the current rabi season, they said adding this had led to an unexpected spurt in demand for DAP fertiliser which was vital for wheat sowing.
China may levy fuel taxes
China's parliament is discussing aproposal to levy fuel tax from January 1, 1999 replacing a variety of road taxes, the China Securities newspaper said on Thursday. Minister of communications Huang Zhendong proposed to parliament on Wednesday that a fuel tax of 1.15 yuan ($0.14) be levied for every litre of gasoline consumed, the newspaper said. Huang also proposed that 0.95 yuan be levied on every litre of diesel consumed, the newspaper added. It did not give further details. China has said the tax would be part of amendments to China's first highway law, adopted in mid-1997. It is aimed at putting an end to arbitrary road tax and relieving the burden on companies as well as the public.
Australia suspends fruit imports
The Australian government said on Thursday it had suspended all imports of fresh fruit from the United States following an outbreak of Mexican fruit fly in southern California. "The suspension, which took effect yesterday, is a precautionary measure pending supply of technical information quantifying the risk ofMexican fruit fly to Australia," Senator Judith Troeth, parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, said in a statement. Of added concern was a concurrent outbreak of Mediterranean fruit fly in the same area of California, she said. Commodities that could be affected by the suspension included grapefruit, kiwi fruit and persimmon. Produce already on its way to Australia would be held subject to quarantine. The suspension will remain in place until the United States has provided sound technical information to support a resumption of trade. Some information had been provided through the US embassy in Canberra on Thursday.Indonesian olein quiet
The Indonesian palm olein market extended its bearish trend in early trading on Thursday because of poor demand, traders said. Spot olein fell to 3,000 rupiah/kg in Jakarta against 3,100rupiah/kg at the close on Wednesday. Some players sold olein at 3,000 rupiah/kg for forward delivery as well, traders said. Meanwhile, government-assignedcooperatives, grouped in the Indonesian Cooperatives Distribution forum (KDI), said they planned to resume selling olein next week. The group, which sells olein at 2,730 rupiah/kg, initially planned to resume selling the oil this week. It has temporarily stopped the sales because of rising demand and because its storage tanks have limited capacity. Traders said olein prices could fall to 2,900 rupiah/kg if the high export taxes on crude palm oil (CPO) and its by-products remained in place. CPO export tax stands at 60 percent, while the tariffs are at 55 percent for RBD palm oil and RBD olein and 50 percent for crude palm kernel oil.
Australian wool indicator up
The Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX) said on Thursday that its eastern market indicator increased for the third successive day, gaining eight cents to 484 cents a kg at sales in Newcastle, Melbourne and Fremantle. AWEX said its northern indicator (Newcastle) gained eight cents to 487 cents, its southern indicator (Melbourne) rose seven centsto 481 cents and its western indicator (Fremantle) was steady at 452 cents. The main buyers were Modianc Australia with 2,740 bales, Itochu Wool with 1,829 and BWK Australiasia 1,623. Of the 29,122 bales offered, 12.0 percent were passed in.
Silk weaving on the rise in Malda
Silk weaving has come of age in Malda and is poised to take over the eminence enjoyed by Murshidabad weavers for long generating a business of Rs 10 crore annually. The industry in Malda had so long been confined to producing silk yarn accounting for as much as 80 per cent of West Bengal's total output, Kvic director (eastern region) EP Lepcha said. The yarn was purchased in bulk for weaving in neighbouring Murshidabad, Benares, Orissa and even Karnataka, famous throughout the world for their varied silk textiles and sarees. Silk weaving is now done in Malda as weavers are being trained in the craft by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission since 1996 in view of the economic potential, Lepcha said. He said Kvic has spentRs 4.50 crore so far to train weavers of Malda and now 40 per cent of silk sarees produced in West Bengal are woven here. The weavers are being helped by 75 registered societies spread across the district, he said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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