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Commodity market: Gold, sugar melting and sugar strong
LONDON. Oct 19: The oil market cooled down this week as dealers predicted that the United Nations would renew its oil-for-food deal with Iraq de-3>ite the recent build-up of tenons in the Gulf region, reports
The price for Brent North Sea crude oil slipped back below the 20-dollar benchmark.
Iraq is due to renew its oil-for-food accord with the UN — under which Baghdad can export a limited quantity of crude to pay for humanitarian supplies — at the end of this year.
But despite the prospect of uninterrupted Iraqi oil sup-filies, dealers took some cheer rom an anticipated rise in world oil Imports as winter bites across the northern hemisphere.
Elsewhere on the commodities markets, gold and silver prices weakened, hit by a strong dollar and an apparent easing in inflationary pressures in the United States.
Palladium prices, in contrast rallied at the prospect of a renewed freeze on Russian exports.
GOLD: Pressure. Gold prices continued to melt over the week, despite a modest technical rally on Friday, losing three dollars to 327 dollars per ounce on the London bullion market.
They yellow metal was ad-
versely affected by the dollar's renewed strength as well as by publication of figures showing that US inflation in September was weaker than expected.
Gold has a role as a traditional safe haven at times of high inflation.
SILVER: Lower. Silver prices followed gold lower, but managed to avoid such steep losses as it encountered technical sup-Krt at the barrier of five dol-s.
The price of the precious metal fell seven cents to 5.13 dollars per ounce.
Market-players in the United States said that the big US investment funds had become more positive towards silver, and predicted that prices would start to rise.
PLATINUM AND PALLADIUM: Higher. Palladium prices shot up on renewed fears that exports from Russia, which produces 70 per cent of the world s palladium, might be frozen again.
The price of its sister-metal, platinum, fell back after a sharp rally, but remained at a relatively high level because of output problems at Russia's vast metals complex Norilsk.
COPPER: Rise. Copper prices quoted on the London Metal Exchange (LME) rose on the wings of strong demand in Europe and the United States and specula-
tion that China would engage in large-scale purchases before the end of the year.
Three-month copper prices rose by four dollars to 2.102 dollars per tonne.
LEAD: Sink. Lead prices continued to fall this week under the influence of technical trades.
Prices fell by nine dollars to 609.5 dollars per tonne.
ZINC: Slip. Zinc prices continued to fall after a rise in market reserves.
The price of this metal, used extensively in anti-corrosion treatments, fell by 22 dollars to 1,305 dollars per tonne.
The fall in prices followed a build up of 13,650 tonnes to 46.825 tonnes, dealers said.
ALUMINIUM: Light. Aluminium prices continued to fall this week, but were buoyed slightly by technical trades.
Three-month aluminium prices fell by 23 dollars to about 1.622 dollars per tonne.
NICKEL: Rise. Nickel prices rose slightly, despite a modest rise in LME reserves, after giant Russian producer Norilsk said that it would close down one of its smelters for five or six months.
Three-month nickel prices rose by 37 dollars to 6,577 dollars per tonne.
TIN: Tumble. Tin prices fell by 47.5 dollars to 5,642.5 dol-
lars per tonne amid quiet trade..
OIL: Cooling. Oil prices slipped back below the 20-dollar benchmark as dealers predicted the United Nations would renew its oil-for-food deal with Ira?hls was despite the recent build-up of tensions in the Gulf region.
Brent North Sea crude prices fell by 75 cents to 19.75 dollars per barrel.
Iraq’s Ambassador to the UN, Nizam Hamdoon, said it was "premature" to count on a fresh oil-for-food deal.
RUBBER: Flat. Rubber prices on the London Market stuck at 580pounds per tonne this week.
Tne Lewis and Peat trading house said that the market had run into a stagnant phase, as both producers and consumers had amassed large stockpiles, EL Nino weather patterns continued to sow uncertainty around future rubber output, with key producer countries still awaiting the onset of monsoon rains. The region has been ravaged by drought this year.
COCOA: Technical. Technical selling drove down cocoa prices, which ended the week 33 pounds lower at 1,127 per tonne, despite a late recovery.
Sluggish activity on the market at this time of year also weighed on prices, which failed to be lifted by news of unaea-
sonally light rainfall in the Ivory Coast, by far the world s biggest producer.
COFFEE: Stable. Robusta prices in London lost ground early in the week, but managed to stabilise later thanks to some positive signals, ending around 40 dollars down at 1.600 dollars per tonne.
Figures were published that showed a hefty fall in US raw coffee stocks of 289,000 sacks (60 kg each) in September to 2.294 million sacks.
TEA: Strong. Demand was strong for all high-quality brews, especially Assam. On the London tea auctions, the price for high-grade leaves reached 179pence.
Tne price of East African brews remained stable, except for Kenyan tea. which became more expensive. The price for medium-quality leaves varied from 140 to 154 pence.
SUGAR: Melting. Sugar prices on the London futures market fell by almost six dollars to 307 dollars per tonne, as the prospect of bumper sugar crops across Europe weighed heavy on market sentiment.
Tne European Commission raised its forecast for sugarbeet output in 1997-98 to 16 83 mil lion tonnes from its previous estimate of 16.36 million tonnes.
In addition. Brazilian ana-
lysts predicted that the South American giant would increase sugarcane output by 10.5 per cent to 4.53 million tonnes this year.
VEGETABLE OILS: Hot. Soya oil prices rose sharply this week as heavy rainfall continued to lash plantations in southern Brazil.
Prices on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) rose by more than 30 cents and rose above seven dollars per bushel (of 27.2 kg — for delivery in November.)
GRAINS: Soft. European wheat markets came to a virtual standstill at the end of the week, while on other markets, worries about the El Nino weather pattern eased thanks to generally good climatic conditions In the main wheat pro ducing countries.
On the Chicago market, the biggest exchange in the world for grains, wheat prices fell three cents to 3.65 dollars per bushel (27.2 kg — for delivery in December)
COTTON: Threadbare Cotton prices fell slightly under pressure from speculative sales “Sae g&"‘ixms3Ld. British wool prices were unchanged at 428 pence per kilo In contrast, the Australian eastern wool Index fell nine cents to 6 96 Australian dollars per kg.