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FE NEWS SERVICE
Liffe grains close higher: Liffe wheat futures closed higher Monday, albeit in thin trade, with the spot month 35 pence up at GBP77 .75 a metric ton. Brokers said the market lacked fresh news, failing to attract new business or push prices beyond recent trading ranges. "Underlying support was good, but trade was pretty featureless," said one. A total of 102 lots changed hands. Liffe barley futures closed without trade. Monday saw the first tenders against the November grain contracts, due to expire November 23. Traders tendered to deliver 135 lots of original wheat against the spot month and 335 original lots and 5 re-tenders of barley. CBOT wheat is down in early trade after Egypt failed to tender over the weekend, as was expected.
Malaysia palm oil up: Malaysian palm oil prices extended gains at midday but profit taking and lack of fresh leads limited the market's upside, traders said. "There are no new leads to push up the market further. We may see some fresh selling if the market failedto go higher," said a trader in Kuala Lumpur. Traders said recent bullish crop projections and export data continued to provide underlying support. The market is also waiting for fresh palm olein tender from India's State Trading Corp (STC). "STC is expected to come in again this week after passing on its tender last Friday," the trader said. STC had tendered for up to 24,000 tonnes of palm olein last Friday for November/December shipment.
Indonesian olein quiet
A lack of buying interest depressed the Indonesian olein market in late morning trading on Tuesday as buyers were waiting for prices to fall further, traders said. The movements of the rupiah currency dominated the market and players said olein prices would be mostly determined by the currency this week. "Nobody has bought olein this morning. It is so quiet. Buyers think prices will fall again because of the currency fluctuation and this makes them stay away from the market... I don't know for how long," said one trader in Jakarta. Olein was onoffer in Jakarta at 3,100 rupiah/kg. It was quoted at around 3,200-3,300 rupiah/kg at the close on Monday. The rupiah was little changed against the dollar in early trading on Tuesday and dealers said sentiment on the currency was likely to remain firm the rest of the day. The rupiah was quoted at 7,175/7,375 against the dollar at 0505 GMT. One olein trader in Indonesia's second city of Surabaya in East Java said demand was very poor.
Dalian soybean ends up: Dalian Soybean futures ended up across the board on Tuesday with sentiment boosted by a rally in the key November contract, traders said. The November 1998 contract rose 43 yuan ($5.19) to 2,783yuan. Shorts were gradually covering their positions in the nearby November contract, which had strong open interest of 95,640 lots, traders said. The most active May 1999 contract closed at 2,305 yuan per tonne, up 14 yuan from Monday's settlement. It hit an intraday high of 2,313 yuan and a low of 2,288 yuan. "November's rally buoyed confidence of thelongs who then built positions in deferred contracts," one trader said. The January 1999 contract rose six yuan to 2,264; March gained eight to 2,259 and July jumped 14 to 2,318. Volume rose to 76,894 lots from 50,864 lots on Monday. But traders said the negative fundamentals of large domestic stocks and the new soybean harvest would overhang prices. Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures settled unchanged to two cents per bushel lower.
Tokyo corn futures end up: Tokyo corn futures perked up to end higher on Tuesday as a strong performance in Chicago overnight and a firm dollar/yen rate encouraged light buying by individual investors, traders said. "Tokyo will keep an eye on the Chicago market, which is expected to move at low levels due to active harvests and possible sales by producers," a trader at a commodities brokerage said. Prices ranged from 40 to 120 yen per tonne firmer. Benchmark November gained 120 to 13,400 yen, while nearby January rose 40 to 13,250 yen. Estimated volume was 19,927lots. Traders said buying was scattered, with investors building long positions whenever prices dipped. The December contract on the CBOT Project A trade system stood at $2.18- by 0640 GMT against its overnight Chicago close of $2.19.
SFE wheat futures rise: Fears about a developing wheat shortage after further damage to the Australian crop pushed Sydney Futures Exchange wheat futures higher on Tuesday. Both January 1999 and January 2000 were very keenly bid, with January 1999 selling A$3.50 a tonne higher at A$170.50 and January 2000 trading up by A$2.75 to A$181.00. Total turnover was relatively strong at 86 lots. Settlement prices rose across the contract range, mostly by about A$3.00 a tonne. Call options also became a focus of market interest. "The market is starting to get a bit concerned about wheat now," Phil Lindsay of Ord Minnett Jardine Fleming Futures said. "The sentiment among key players is starting to turn to one of bullishness. They're starting to take positions in the market that cancapitalise on the view that prices are going to remain in this upward trend." Poor crop weather in Australia -- most recently with heavy rain in Queensland -- is causing a scarcity of high protein wheat.
Yemen raises December crude prices Yemen has raised the December official selling price of its Masila and Marib crudes compared with levels that were set for November liftings, traders said on Tuesday. The following table shows the development of term prices for Marib Light and Masila crudes, in dollars per barrel. Earlier this year, Yemen started to set a monthly OSP for Masila instead of a quarterly price.
Pertamina to buy diesel: Indonesian state oil company Pertamina said on Tuesday it will issue an international tender to import four million barrels of diesel in November. Pertamina processing director Samto Utomo said on the sidelines of a petroleum industry conference the diesel would be imported through a tender but gave no further details. "We will be transparent on purchasing oilproducts, we will invite suppliers and producers for tender." He said despite Pertamina refineries running at 95 per cent of capacity, the company would continue to import diesel as domestic demand was still high. Utomo said Pertamina bought two million barrels of diesel in October.
HK gold, silver firmer: Hong Kong spot gold at midday on Tuesday ended quoted at US$292.50/293.00 an ounce, up from its opening price of $292.10/60, dealers said. Spot silver ended at midday quoted at $4.99/5.02 per ounce, up from the opening price of $4.97/5.00. Tael gold at midday was at HK$2,697 per tael, up HK$4 from its opening at HK$2,693 per tael.
Shanghai copper eases: Shanghai copper futures lost ground in early trade on Tuesday, taking their cue from weakness on the London Metal Exchange (LME), traders said. The most active February 1999 contract stood at 15,640 yuan($ 1,889) per tonne, off 30 yuan from Monday's close. It opened at 15,600 and traded between 15,520 and 15,640. The key January 1999 shed40 yuan to 15,350. LME three-month copper closed Monday's kerb $17 lower at $1,594 per tonne. Sentiment on the Shanghai market took a turn for the worse after LME copper finished below the psychologically important $1,600 level, traders said. Speculative selling emerged but already low prices left little room for a further retreat, traders said. Spot copper remained weak at 15,000-15,100 yuan per tonne from 15,100-15,200 yuan on Monday. Aluminium futures were also lower. The November 1998contract fell 30 yuan to 13,650 yuan and December 250 to 13,500.
Gold little changed:Hong Kong spot gold opened little changed in quiet early Tuesday trading and dealers said the price was seen holding in a range during the Hong Kong session. Bullion opened at $292.10/60 an ounce against New York's $292.00/50 close on Monday and Hong Kong's previous close of $292.30/80. "There's been a little bit of short-covering this morning, but not much trading activity was noted and an absence of fresh excitement has kepttraders away," a local trading house dealer said. "The metal's overall trend remains mixed and trade is expected to remain sluggish in the Asia market." Dealers said the price is seen keeping in a range of $291.50 to $293.50 in trade on Tuesday. Spot silver opened at $4.97/5.00 per ounce in Hong Kong. It ended quoted at $4.98/5.01 in New York on Monday. The Hong Kong market will be closed on Wednesday for the Chung Yeung festival and will reopen on Thursday.
Euro cotton prices steady: Cotlook, a Liverpool-based cotton information company, reported Monday that world prices for cotton continue to reflect a substantial selling pressure from traders keen to ensure inventories are kept to a minimum. The impending shipment of new crop supplies from several northern hemisphere producing countries is lending urgency to traders' selling activity. In the meantime, mill buyers are on the sidelines of the market. Following a recent flurry of activity to fill their most pressing requirements, the inclination ofspinners is clearly to await further pricing developments. The overall Cotlook index a rose by 0.20 cents per pound to 59.40 C/lb.
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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