Oil and gold rise and the dollar falls against the Japanese yen
Oil prices rose in early Asian transactions on Thursday, supported by indicators of a lack of supply and optimism about the recovery of demand from China, gold prices also jumped to the highest level in two weeks in early Asian transactions, while the dollar fell to the lowest level in 3 months against the Japanese yen.
By 01: 15 UTC, Brent futures prices increased to USD 87.02 per barrel, and WTI futures rose 0.2% to USD 80.71 per barrel.
The Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Chongqing announced on Wednesday the easing of anti-covid-19 restrictions, a day after clashes between protesters in Guangzhou (south of the country) and the police, amid a series of protests against the world's toughest anti-covid-19 restrictions.
But on Wednesday, China's Consumer Price Index revealed that business activity contracted further in November, raising concerns about next year, and crude oil supply is expected to remain limited.
The US Energy Information Administration reported that US crude stocks fell by about 13 million barrels, the largest level since 2019 in the week ending November 25 last year, but US crude production exceeded 12 million barrels per day, the highest level since before the Coronavirus outbreak.
A source familiar with Reuters said on Wednesday that the decision of the "OPEC plus" group to hold its meeting on the Fourth of December this year indicates a low probability of a policy change, which limited oil gains.
Gold at the highest level
Gold prices jumped to the highest level in two weeks in early Asian transactions on Thursday, after a speech by the chairman of the Federal Reserve (US central bank) Jerome Powell reinforced expectations of a US interest rate hike at lower rates.
By 00: 39 UTC, gold in spot transactions rose 0.4% to 1775.77 dollars per ounce, after touching the highest level since November 16, and US gold futures contracts increased 1.7% to 1788.90 dollars per ounce.
Gold ended last November's transactions up by more than 8%, the highest monthly increase since July 2020.
And for other precious metals:
- Silver increased to 22.26 dollars per ounce.
- Platinum rose to 1038.46 dollars per ounce.
- Palladium climbed to 1892.35 dollars per ounce.
The dollar is falling
The dollar fell to a 3-month low against the yen on Thursday, as investors focused on Powell's remarks about the possibility of slowing the pace of interest rate hikes.
In the latest transactions, the US currency fell 1.32% to 136.295 yen, after falling to 136.205 yen, marking its lowest level against the Japanese currency since August 26 last.
The relationship between the dollar and the yen is very sensitive to any changes in long-term US Treasury yields, which fell last night after Powell's remarks, approaching two-month lows at 3.6%, and the yield in the latest transactions in Tokyo was 3.6163%.
Markets are assessing the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by 50 basis points at its next meeting.
The dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against 6 major currencies, including the yen and the euro, continued to decline from yesterday's session by more than 1%, falling another 0.28% to 105.48 points.
The index fell 5.2 percent in November, marking the worst monthly performance since September 2010.