28 Okt 2004 18:27
28.10.2004 18:10:36 Commodities News Summary
TOP NEWS
> UPDATE 1-Metals down but not out after China rate [nL28380312]
LONDON - Metals prices took a jolt on Thursday after China's surprise interest rate rise fanned fears that one of the world's biggest consumers might lose its appetite for industrial raw materials.
European steel and mining shares also tumbled on the news, but analysts were also warily asking whether markets were witnessing just a knee-jerk reaction.
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> CBOT corn steady early, soy/wheat underpin [nN28473103]
CHICAGO - The Chicago Board of Trade corn futures market was consolidating on Thursday, with higher wheat and soybean prices helping to support corn prices.
A huge U.S. corn harvest looms over the market. But commodity funds hold a large net short position in CBOT corn futures, despite recent short-covering, which underpins prices, traders said.
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METALS > UPDATE 1-Europe gold seesaws with euro after China [nL28438455]
LONDON - Gold fluctuated in line with volatile trade in the euro on Thursday, but support was firm even as industrial metals fell on demand worries that followed China's move to raise interest rates.
Spot gold was quoted at $424.55/425.30 an ounce by 1436 GMT, up from an earlier low of $420 and $423.55/424.30 quoted late in New York on Wednesday.
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> UPDATE 3-Phelps Dodge posts profit, shares fall on [nN28455343]
NEW YORK - Phelps Dodge Corp. (/PD.N), the world's largest publicly traded copper producer, on Thursday posted a third-quarter profit on sky-high copper prices, but shares fell about 4 percent on concerns that China's rate rise would dampen demand.
Phoenix, Arizona-based Phelps Dodge said earnings were $292.9 million, or $2.95 per share, compared with a net loss of $300,000, or 4 cents a share, a year ago.
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> Antofagasta Q3 copper output rises 3.4 pct [nWLB8093]
LONDON - Chilean copper miner Antofagasta (/ANTO.L) said on Thursday its third quarter copper production increased 3.4 percent from the previous quarter.
London-listed Antofagasta said copper production in the 3 months to end September was 130,700 tonnes. Its cash costs increased to 24.9 cents per pound from 21.9 cents.
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> UPDATE 5-Miner WMC rejects $5.5 bln Xstrata bid, s [nSYD238577]
MELBOURNE/LONDON - Australian nickel and copper miner WMC Resources Ltd (/WMR.AX) rejected a A$7.4 billion ($5.5 billion) takeover bid from Xstrata (/XTA.L), but left the door open for a higher offer, sending its shares soaring.
The bid, at a 24 percent premium to WMC Resources' closing price on Wednesday, comes as miners thrive on red hot metals demand from China, which companies expect will sustain strong metals prices for the foreseeable future.
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> Minor metals-Cobalt drops to year's low below $20. [nL28336503]
LONDON - The cobalt market's erosion from first quarter seven-year highs near $30.00/lb continued this week, with the price falling below $20.00 for the first time since December 2003.
Traders said the weight of lower producer offers -- notably from Australia's WMC Resources (/WMR.AX) on its highly visible website -- had encouraged buyers to hold off.
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> UPDATE 3-Gold Fields posts Q1 loss, fights Harmony [nL28063252]
JOHANNESBURG - World number four gold producer and hostile bid target Gold Fields Ltd (/GFIJ.J) reported a surprise first-quarter loss per share on Thursday, as gold output and the domestic rand gold price both fell.
But the South African firm managed to turn an operating profit of 456 million rand ($74.01 million), down 16 percent from the previous quarter, and promised more cost cuts and improved profits to counter a takeover bid.
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GRAINS/OILSEEDS/LIVESTOCK
> Taiwan still unsure on U.S. beef, may delay trip [nTP185901]
TAIPEI - Taiwan disputed on Thursday a U.S. claim that the island has agreed to re-open its market to U.S. beef imports, saying it had yet to makde a final decision on whether U.S. beef was safe from mad cow disease.
The Department of Health also said in a statement that its analysts would probably not be able to start an inspection visit to the United States on Nov. 10, as stated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), due to time and budget constraints.
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> UPDATE 2-Bunge quarterly profit more than doubles [nN28251001]
CHICAGO - Bunge Ltd. (/BG.N), the world's top oilseed processor, on Thursday said net quarterly profit more than doubled on a strong showing by its agribusiness and fertilizer segments, beating analysts' expectations and sending shares up 7 percent.
The White Plains, New York-based company said third-quarter net profit was $182 million, or $1.53 a share, compared with $89 million, or 88 cents a share, a year ago.
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> New rains seen for Brazil's south soy belt - Somar [nN2874702]
SAO PAULO, Brazil - A new cold front should bring widespread rain to Brazil's southern soybean belt from Sunday, after the region gets a five-day break from wet weather, private weather forecaster Somar said on Thursday.
Brazil's main soy region, the center-west, has been soaked over the past three days and should continue to get moderate showers over the weekend, Somar said in a daily soy weather bulletin.
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COCOA/COFFEE/SUGAR > ANALYSIS-India, running low on sugar, scours marke [nBM132681]
BOMBAY - India, the world's biggest consumer of sugar, is gearing up to open the flood gates to raw sugar imports after poor rains hit domestic availability, but buyers may go slow in order to ensure competitive prices.
Anticipating a shortage in 2005, factories bought about 1 million tonnes of raw sugar from abroad to refine in the new season from October. They are looking for more cargoes at economical rates, but firm prices have soured their appetites.
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> Strike and rains damage Ivory Coast cocoa beans [nL28189232]
SAN PEDRO, Ivory Coast - Many of the cocoa beans delivered to San Pedro are mouldy and damp after heavy rains and a farmers' strike, prompting exporters to turn some loads away, analysts and buyers said on Thursday.
"The quality of cocoa we have been analysing since the end of the strike is mediocre because of the heavy rain and low prices farmers are paid," said Djakaridja Coulibaly, chief analyst of of the Swiss group Audit Control Expertise (ACE).
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> UPDATE 2-Licht sees rough world sugar balance in ' [nL28627732]
LONDON - Analyst F.O. Licht said on Thursday it expected global sugar output and consumption to be roughly in balance in 2004/05, scaling back earlier expectations of a deficit.
White and raw sugar futures have risen sharply this year partly on anticipation of a supply deficit next year after successive poor cane crops in India, the world's biggest sugar consumer, traders say.
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