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REUTERS & AGENCIES
Taiwan grain buyers seen quiet
Taiwan will remain fairly quiet in the corn and soybean markets before the end of 1998, seeing only a few routine U.S. Grain purchases, traders said on Monday. Traders said Taiwan buyers may place routine tenders for54,000 tonnes of US grain before the year-end for delivery in 1999. Taiwan buyers have completed their 1998 grain purchases and started placing tenders for 1999 grain shipments, traders said. In the wheat market, Taiwan was expected to remain sidelined in December as the island has covered its short-term demand, traders said.
Thai planters plan siege
Thai sugar planters, unhappy with the government's decision on cane prices, plan a siege of sugar mills nationwide from December 9 to block sugar from entering the local market, a senior cane planter said on Tuesday. Rachai Choosilpkul, secretary-general of Thai Sugar Cane Planters' Association, said that the move would affect the Quota A sugar, which is meant for local consumption only. Exportswould not be affected.
Brazilian sugar exports soar
Brazilian centre-south sugar exports rose by more than 1.1 million tonnes to 4.16 million between May/October 1998, compared with the same period last year, trade house ED & F Man said on Tuesday. Higher exports reflected increased production with more than2.3 million tonnes extra sugar being produced by mid-October, compared with the same year-ago period, Man said. It noted substantial increases in bulk crystal shipments this season to the Far East with over 300,000 tonnes extra shipped to Indonesia, Canada and Egypt. Forecasts of further Brazilian exports by end-January 1999swing between 500,000 and 2.0 million tonnes depending on Russian demand, harvest weather, amount of cane left uncut and swing back to alcohol.
Malaysian corn steady
Malaysia's corn prices held relatively steady despite the arrivals of more American, Chinese and Argentine supplies in recent weeks, industry sources said. "In the last few weeks, there were arrivalsof Chinese and Argentina corn to Port Klang. The amount was estimated at around 80,000 tonnes," said an official in a large flour mill. Traders said the domestic market preferred to buy Chinese corn to US origins due to proximity. "It all depends on the price. If the Chinese and US corns are almost equal, then people may want to buy more Chinese because the arrivals are much faster (10 days), against US (30 days). Chinese corn can be bought in small vessels of 10,000 to 20,000 tonnes for Chinese corn and paid less freight."
Tocom rubber firmer
Tokyo rubber futures closed firmer on Tuesday helped by the dollar's rise above 120 yen and news that the International Natural Rubber Organisation (Inro) was looking to buy rubber, traders said. Traders said Inro was looking to buy Malaysian SMR20 rubber for January/February shipment. It also looked for offers in Thailand and Indonesia. Tocom futures ranged from 0.4 to 1.4 yen per kg higher.Benchmark May ended up 0.4 yen at 84.8 yen.Fundamentals remainedweak, as supplies were ample seasonally while demand was slack ahead of the end of the year, he said. In the currency market the dollar moved between 119.86 and120.60 yen by late Tokyo trade on Tuesday. Currency dealers said underlying long-term sentiment towards the dollar remained fragile but it could continue its technical upward trend in the short term should the situation in Latin America and global equity markets maintain recent stability.
Liffe coffee seen volatile
Liffe coffee is having a volatile run but has solid buying support and looks like heading up to its mid-May highs, technical analysts said on Tuesday. "It looks as if its going up to the high at $1,800. It's behaving as if it has the potential to get up there," said Susan Rigg, technical analyst at Chart Analysis. "But it's a pretty jagged pattern, pretty volatile," she said. Traders called the market to open unchanged to $5 a tonne higher. Rigg said March coffee had a good upside reversal on Monday that showed it had a lot ofbuying support below $1,650. She set resistance at $1,800, the mid-May high. Sucden Research put resistance at $1,730, Monday's high,followed by $1,760. New York arabica futures ended moderately higher overnight except for the spot December contract in thin, range bound trading.
Tokyo naphtha flat to firm
Tokyo naphtha saw quiet afternoon trade on Tuesday with prices pegged slightly higher than Monday levels, while kerosene remained notionally firm as cold weather was forecast to linger in northern Japan, traders said. Temperatures in Sapporo on Japan's northernmost major island of Hokkaido reached a low of minus 8.9 celsius on Monday, down 5.6 degrees from the average low for this time of year. Weather in Hokkaido, Japan's largest kerosene market, is likely to stay colder than normal towards the end of the week, a Meteorological Agency official said.
A series of cold spells have already spurred Japanese trading houses to procure small spot cargoes from South Korea, which can provide kerosenethat meets Japanese specifications. Buying interest from Japanese oil companies was rather obscure except for one major firm that had recently bought a 30,000 tonne cargo for late December to early January delivery, traders said. Open-spec naphtha for first-half February was notionally quoted at $128.25/$131 per tonne, compared to Monday's $128.50/$130. In term naphtha, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) has set the new term price for its low-sulphur naphtha at $5 per tonne over the ADNOC formula for 1999, down from a $10.75 premium for 1998.
Simex Brent, Nymex ACCESS firmer
Brent crude futures in Asia rose on Tuesday, keeping pace with gains on Nymex, traders said. January Brent on Simex traded 22 cents higher at $10.48,compared with the close at $10.28 in London on Monday. Comments made by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah on Monday urging oil producers to take further measures to rescue oil prices propped up the market, they said. The news emerged amid market disappointment over Opec's failure to takesteps to boost current low oil prices. January Nymex on after hours ACCESS was up eight cents at$11.55 as of 0932 GMT, after closing up 30 cents at $11.47 in New York on Monday.
Shanghai copper mostly down
Shanghai copper futures ended mostly down on Tuesday, driven lower by London Metal Exchange's steadily falling copper prices, traders said. However, the nearby contracts were supported by firmer physical copper prices, traders said. The key March 1999 contract ended at 15,480 yuan ($1,870)per tonne, down 50 yuan from Monday's close. It traded between 15,380 and 15,490. The most active April contract lost 40 yuan to 15,670 yuan. LME three-month copper closed Monday's kerb $8 lower at$1,519.
LME metals soft
London Metal Exchange (LME) metals were softer but off fresh 11-1/2-year lows at the Tuesday pre-market, but dealers expected to see copper creep steadily lower and pull the rest of the complex with it. Traders forecast players would continue to sell copper short, and cautioned thatwhile some merchant buying was seen buoying aluminium and nickel, prices were locked in a firm downtrend. "I can't see a (technical) bounce at these levels," said one LME trader. "But the further it falls, the harder it is going to bounce," he added.
Taiwan gold imports down
Taiwan's imports of gold bars, coins and plate in November totalled 7.499 tonnes, a 19.3 percent decline from the 9.297 tonnes imported in November 1997, the finance ministry said on Tuesday. A Taipei gold dealer, commenting on the official data,said: "The weak local economy is hurting gold demand." The finance ministry said Taiwan's cumulative gold imports totalled 58.78 tonnes over the first 11 months of 1998, down 41.5 percent compared with 100.516 tonnes the same 1997 period. Dealers said Taiwan gold demand would remain low in coming months due to sluggishness in the local economy. The finance ministry said Taiwan's gold exports in November were slight at 0.266 tonnes, compared to 0.204 tonnes the same month a yearago.
LME copper, aluminium, zinc futures drop
Copper futures were again headed lower in Asia on Tuesday, holding just above the lowest price in more than 11 years. Benchmark London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month copper was quoted at $1,513-$1,516 a tonne at midday versus Monday's late kerb price of $1,519/tonne. Metals dealers said the weaker tone reflected disappointment among speculators that copper failed to stage a technically-driven rally on Monday. Three-month aluminium was indicated $4 lower at$1,266-$1,268/tonne, while three-month zinc was down $6 at $982-$986/tonne.
Gold, silver seen drifting in ranges
Gold and silver are likely to fluctuate in ranges as they await a convincing break-out, traders said on Tuesday. Bullish sentiment was lacking given gold's failure to sustain Monday highs above $297.00 an ounce, they added. Markets were susceptible to sharp moves in either direction given seasonally thin business but there was nothing but speculative positions on the immediatehorizon to move gold or silver, traders said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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