Commodity Market: Gold Prices Decline amid China’s Commitment to Reform
COMMODITY MARKET – On Monday, gold prices dropped following the remarks of Chinese President Xi Jinping about Beijing’s commitment to engage in economic reforms amid the ongoing US-China trade war.
Based on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the December delivery of gold futures declined to 0.15% to $1,204.90 per troy ounce.
“China’s determination to fully deepen reforms will not change. We are willing to use practical actions to drive all parties to jointly adhere to trade liberalization and facilitation and build an open world economy,” Xi addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Beijing.
Both Washington and Beijing have slapped 25% tariffs on each other’s $16 billion worth of products in August. Meanwhile, Trump administration is ready to impose another tariff to $200 billion worth of Chinese goods this week, reports suggested.
Elsewhere, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that his country’s relationship with China had come back to a “normal track.” Japan PM Abe is likely to pay China a visit in October. Moreover, the financial conversation between Japan and China was “extremely good”, as per Japan PM Abe. He also added that there will be a continuous cooperation in macroeconomic policies and measures between the two countries.
The trade talks between 16 signatories of the China-supported Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) along with the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), had settled on the deal’s key elements and there would be a broad agreement which will be met in November. This was said by Singaporean Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing last Saturday.
“We are looking for that broad agreement, that milestone to be achieved, or what we call substantial conclusion when the leaders meet at the end of the year,” Sing said.
On Monday, the U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, made an increase of 0.05% to 95.1.
Commodity Market: Oil prices plunge as OPEC output increases
On Monday, oil prices plunged as OPEC increases output. Moreover, the sanctions of the US toward Iran had remained in the spotlight.
The November delivery of Brent Oil Futures dropped to 0.3% to $77.42. Meanwhile, the October delivery of Crude Oil WTI Futures decreased from 0.3% to $69.61.
According to a Reuters Survey, OPEC’s supply increased to 20,000 barrels per day between July and August.
On Friday, the data from Baker Hughes revealed that the U.S. rig count, which is an early indicator of future output surged to 2 to 862 last week.
There is an expectation that the oil traders would concentrate on potential disruptions to global crude supplies in the coming week. This is amid the forthcoming US sanctions to Iran which would likely lead to a firmer market.
