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9 hours ago
Loh Chin Hua bought 100 lots @ $7.97 and now has 180,212 direct interest.
ReplyDeleteKep CEO can contra today for $50K quick profit. He so chun!
DeleteDon't ask me what price can buy Kep. I also lost money leh. LOL!
ReplyDeleteOPEC will stand by its decision not to cut output even if oil prices fall as low as $40 a barrel and will wait at least three months before considering an emergency meeting, the United Arab Emirates’ energy minister said.
ReplyDeleteOPEC won’t immediately change its Nov. 27 decision to keep the group’s collective output target unchanged at 30 million barrels a day, Suhail Al-Mazrouei said. Venezuela supports an OPEC meeting given the price slide, though the country hasn’t officially requested one, an official at Venezuela’s foreign ministry said Dec. 12. The group is due to meet again on June 5.
“We are not going to change our minds because the prices went to $60 or to $40,” Mazrouei told Bloomberg yesterday at a conference in Dubai. “We’re not targeting a price; the market will stabilize itself.” He said current conditions don’t justify an extraordinary OPEC meeting. “We need to wait for at least a quarter” to consider an urgent session, he said.
OPEC’s 12 members pumped 30.56 million barrels a day in November, exceeding their target for a sixth consecutive month, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait this month deepened discounts on shipments to Asia, feeding speculation that they’re fighting for market share amid a glut fed by surging U.S. shale production. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries supplies about 40 percent of the world’s oil.
Support comes where oil price sttabilize for at least 1-2 months
ReplyDeleteBrent oil slumped Tuesday to a new five-year low below $60 per barrel, as shrinking Chinese manufacturing activity stoked global demand concerns, with sentiment also plagued by over-supply.
ReplyDeleteIn morning London deals, the price of Brent North Sea crude for delivery in January sank to $59.49, hitting a low last seen in July 2009.
China's manufacturing activity worsened in December with HSBC's purchasing managers' index (PMI) hitting a seven-month low, the bank said, signalling more weakness in the world's second-largest economy and top energy consumer.
The preliminary PMI for the month came in at 49.5, below the break-even point dividing expansion and contraction.
The result, compiled by information services provider Markit, was lower than November's final reading of 50.0 and the weakest result since May's 49.4. The December reading also marked the first move into the contraction range in seven months.
"China PMI manufacturing data adds to global growth uncertainty," said Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets.
"If China's manufacturing is not growing, it suggests the rest of world is not consuming as much, so China needs to consume less energy in order to make less goods," he told AFP.
"As the number two economy, that's a lot of energy. And a lot of goods -- which adds to worries that rest of world is consuming less because (it is) not growing as much."
The Brent contract later stood at $59.78, down $1.28 from Monday's closing level.
"The Chinese data ... suggests that growth metrics and demand for oil/commodities are slowing," added Atif Latif, head of trading at Guardian Stockbrokers in London.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, the dollar hit a new record against the ruble as plunging oil prices and geopolitical tensions slammed the Russian economy.
Russia's central bank earlier Tuesday hiked interest rates from 10.5 percent to 17 percent to halt a slide in the ruble, which has come as the country is battered by slumping oil prices and Western sanctions over Moscow's support for Ukrainian separatists.
"Russia's desperate attempt to shore up the ruble after recent slump suggests it could be worried (about) worse to come," van Dulken added.
Beware there is a currency crisis brewing in Brazil, Russia, Thailand, Aussie and closer to home Indo as outflows from EM. A deja vu of AFC in 98
ReplyDeleteNew York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration will move to prohibit fracking in the state, citing unresolved health issues and dubious economic benefits of the widely used gas-drilling technique.
ReplyDeleteEnvironmental Commissioner Joe Martens said Wednesday he is recommending a ban. Cuomo says he is deferring to Martens and Acting Health Commissioner Howard Zucker in making the decision.
Zucker and Martens on Wednesday summarized the findings of their environmental and health reviews. They concluded that shale gas development using high-volume hydraulic fracturing carried unacceptable risks that haven't been sufficiently studied.
Martens said the Department of Environmental Conservation will put out a final environmental impact statement early next year, and after that he'll issue an order prohibiting fracking.
ReplyDeleteRIYADH: Saudi Arabia, the largest producer in the OPEC oil cartel, cannot reduce its output, the kingdom's oil minister said on Thursday (Dec 18) despite plunging prices. Ali al-Nuaimi added that commodity price fluctuations are to be expected, and he expressed optimism for the future despite crude's price drop of about 50 per cent since June.
"It is difficult, or even impossible, for Saudi Arabia or OPEC to undertake any measure that would lead to a reduction in (their) share of the market and an increase in that of others" who do not belong to the cartel, he was quoted as saying by the official Saudi Press Agency.
"Price fluctuations in commodities, including oil, are normal," the minister added. He said he is "optimistic for the future because the situation that we and the world currently face is temporary".
Crude prices traded above US$100 a barrel earlier this year. They have fallen to multi-year lows since June in the face of a global supply glut, a strong US dollar and slower growth in demand.
Prices plunged even further after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries decided last month against cutting production. The cartel pumps about 30 per cent of global crude.
Prices were little changed in Asian trade on Thursday prior to Nuaimi's comments. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery fell 27 cents to US$56.20. Brent crude for February gained two cents to US$61.20 in afternoon deals.
The oil market has become increasingly competitive with the surge in production from American shale oil fields. Analysts have said that Saudi Arabia is content to see shale oil producers - and even some members of the cartel - suffer from low prices rather than reduce output to boost prices.
OPEC last month reaffirmed its production ceiling of 30 million barrels per day, of which Saudi Arabia is pumping around 9.6 million bpd. Analysts say Saudi Arabia is strong enough to withstand lower prices. On Wednesday, the kingdom said it will continue massive public spending in its 2015 budget which financial analysts say could be approved as early as Monday.
But the drop in oil prices sparked turmoil this week on global stock markets where investors were concerned about the effect on oil firms as well as the crude-dependent economy of Russia. The Russian central bank raised its key interest rate to 17.0 per cent from 10.5 per cent in a bid to prop up the rouble. Russia, a key oil producer which does not belong to OPEC, is also straining under Western sanctions over Ukraine.
- AFP/al