GOLD LOGS LOWEST END IN A MONTH
Gold prices closed on Wednesday at their lowest level in about a month, then fell further in electronic trading as the dollar strengthened against currency rivals following the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy statement.
The central bank on Wednesday, after prices for metals futures settled for the session, kept interest rates unchanged, as expected, and signaled that it’s still on track to raise rates at a gradual pace. June gold GCM7, -1.05 percent was at $1,247.50 an ounce in electronic trading, just over a half-hour after the Fed news, but it had climbed above $1,250 in the immediate aftermath. Prices had fallen by $8.50, or 0.7 percent, to settle at $1,248.50 an ounce for the session.
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KUWAIT SEES DOLLAR 80 OIL BY 2020
A number of oil experts have been warning that the oil price crash and resulting slashed investments across the board would lead to a much tighter oil market within the next 4-5 years. Now the head of Kuwait’s national oil company Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) is joining the ranks of those warning that by 2020, oil demand will be ‘enormous’ as the low global investments we’ve seen since 2014 begin to catch up with supply.
Expert expects ‘enormous demand’ for crude oil in 2019 and 2020, with oil prices likely in the US$70-80 range per barrel.
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GLENCORE TO SELL PERU, OTHER MINING ROYALTIES
Mining-trading group Glencore Plc has hired the Bank of Nova Scotia to sell a portfolio of royalty assets, including one for the Antamina copper-zinc mine in Peru.
The Antamina mine royalty makes up the bulk of the value of the package and could fetch up to $250 million. The portfolio includes several much smaller royalties from other mines and exploration assets owned by Glencore around the world. It is not clear whether Glencore will sell 100 percent of the royalties, which gives the owner the right to receive a percentage of production from a mining operation, or retain a stake in them.
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EUROPEAN WHEAT LOWER AS WEATHER WORRIES SUBSIDE
European wheat futures fell on Wednesday as US prices eased after a weather-fuelled rally earlier in the week while rain in France provided some relief to parched crops.
December milling wheat on the Paris-based Euronext exchange settled 1.50 euros, or 0.9 percent, lower at 173.25 euros a ton, falling back from a near two-month high of 176.75 euros touched early in on Tuesday.
US futures edged lower as the market continued to ease after surging more than 5 percent on Monday when investors reacted to the risk of crop damage from snow and rainstorms. France, where crops have endured extremely dry conditions, also had some more showers on Wednesday, with rain forecast to reach some particularly parched zones in the northeast.
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COLOMBIA PROCLAIMS LARGEST GAS FIND IN NEARLY 3 DECADES
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and state-controlled oil company Ecopetrol Wednesday announced the country’s largest natural gas discovery in 28 years, but stopped short of quantifying the Caribbean deepwater find or declaring it to be a commercially viable.
The discovery comes as Colombia is experiencing an ongoing decline in domestic gas reserves and output. Earlier this year, the country lost its self sufficiency in gas production and was forced for the first time to import an LNG cargo from Trinidad and Tobago to a new regasification facility in Cartagena in order to meet domestic gas demand.
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STAKEHOLDERS BULLISH OVER COFFEE INDUSTRY’S GROWTH
Amid the shortage in coffee production all over the world possibly due to climate change, local stakeholders expressed optimism that there are still bright prospects for the industry. Tuburan Mayor Democrito Diamante, whose town only recently started producing coffee, said he believes the coffee industry worldwide can still recover. Governments should pay attention to the issues hounding the industry and come up with ways to help farmers increase their yield. In a bid to become the country’s “coffee capital,” Diamante said his municipal government is now requiring residents to plant coffee through a plant now, pay later scheme.