Global Recap – 3rd Feb, 09

Gold's turned below $900 as underlying fundamentals are weak according to the world's largest gold producer, along with Russia the states reporting rising production while jewellery demand is soft. China's production hit a record 282 tonnes in 2008, the China Gold Association said, up 4.3% from 2007. High prices are scaring off jewellery buyers, who account for almost 70% of global demand for gold. The volume of gold jewellery sales in Abu Dhabi fell 70% in January due to rising prices.

OPEC will discuss a further supply cut of about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) when it meets in March if oil prices remain low, an OPEC source told Reuters. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meets on March 15 in Vienna. Despite OPEC agreeing since September to reduce supply by a total of 4.2 million bpd, oil prices remain around $41 a barrel, a level that officials from the group say is too low. Pending sales of existing U.S. homes rebounded as buyers waded back into the market to take advantage of lower prices and mortgage interest rates.

The National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in December, surged 6.3% to 87.7, rising for the first time since August. Compared with the same period a year-ago, pending homes sale were up 2.1% in December. Last week, the NAR reported an unexpected rise in existing home sales in December, driven mainly by distressed sales, with prices falling from a year earlier by the biggest margin in over 40 years. Stability in the housing market is critical to the U.S. economy's recovery. The economy slipped into recession in December 2007. Falling house prices, coupled with the stock market collapse and tight access to credit, have hit consumer spending, which accounts for about two thirds of U.S. economic activity.

Copper rose on optimism over U.S. home-sales data, but rising inventories capped greater gains. Pending sales of existing U.S. homes rebounded in December, data showed as buyers waded back into the market to take advantage of lower prices and mortgage interest rates. The Institute for Supply Management's index of U.S. factory activity rose to 35.6 in January from a near three-decade low of 32.9 in December, above expectations, but still showing the sector shrinking. Weak demand prospects were reflected in the rise in inventories. Copper inventories on the LME rose 4,100 tonnes to 495,300 tonnes, the highest since late 2003, while aluminum stocks grew 28,300 tonnes to a record of around 2.84 million tonnes.


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