Commodities rebounded as the selloff that had pushed the prices of many industrial raw materials to multi-month lows drew some opportunistic buyers.
Reports suggesting that the euro zone’s bailout fund may be expanded and that plans were in the works to recapitalize the currency union’s struggling financial sector helped spark rallies in economically sensitive materials such as copper and crude oil……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The commodities’ slide ends a period in which economists and commodity buyers seemed to be living in different worlds. The economic story was of a frail world that could be about to fail. Yet oil and most other commodities rose into the stratosphere. They are still far from falling to earth, Brent is still 32 per cent higher than last year.
The apparent disconnect can be resolved. Growth has been weaker than hoped in developed economies but still strong enough in emerging economies to help keep prices high. But investment and monetary factors are also at play……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Gold prices shocked investors last week by plummeting alongside other assets perceived as far riskier, losing some of its allure as a safe haven. We look at the combination of factors that conspired to bring about that slump.
Hikes to margin requirements – the cost of holding positions – in the United States and China were a key trigger, as they tend to force the most highly leveraged speculators to liquidate……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Gold prices witnessed a rally for a decade which is unusual for any asset class but the present correction in prices may last for weeks or months, according to Jim Rogers, legendary investment wizard and Chairman of Rogers Holdings.
He expressed doubts on whether the yellow metal prices will reach $2000 an ounce in 2011. Much of the present movements in Gold are due to panic and fear……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The global economy is faltering and the world’s monetary system is looking exceedingly precarious, yet the price of gold has plunged in the last week. Soon after US Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, announced Operation Twist, a policy intended to reduce borrowing costs, global markets plunged.
The Fed’s $400 billion plan, named “Operation Twist” is the latest in a series of steps aimed at reviving an economy that has very sluggish growth and high unemployment……………………………………….Full Article: Source

History suggests that the bulk of gold’s correction may be over, but it may be a while before prices hit new records again. Precious metals were crushed last week as panic liquidation hit the sector and investors rushed to lock in their gains. The steep drop in prices caught many off guard, with some commentators now wondering whether the bull market in precious metals is over. Is that the case?
From July 1 to Sept. 6, a seemingly never-ending stream of bad news related to Europe’s sovereign debt crisis; a contentious debt-ceiling debate in the U.S……………………………………….Full Article: Source

There are those who believe that gold will head to $2,000 an ounce and perhaps beyond. HSBC, for example, raised its gold pricing forecasts through 2013. Such optimism tends to be accompanied by the belief that silver will also rise, potentially to $50 an ounce, almost as if by default from gold’s success.
But investors may want to play silver a bit wiser by viewing the metal through an independent lens. Despite the bright forecasts for its yellow superior, analysts are expressing concerns about the outlook for silver……………………………………….Full Article: Source

If you missed the opportunity to profit from the Silver run last time, be sure not to miss it this time. Here’s why we think, it is right time to buy silver despite the crash the metal prices have registered since the past week.
Silver fundamentals remain positive despite the current crash. The big sell-off was primarily due to big money unwinding its positions to meet losses in other markets and the CME margin hike that accompanied only made it worse……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Weeks after entering an agreement with leading diamond group De Beers, southwest African nation Botswana said it will turn country’s capital Gaborone a diamond hub by 2013.
Earlier this month, Botswana and De Beers signed a ten year contract to form Debswana for the sorting, valuing and sales of country’s diamond production……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Amidst the increasingly grim economic outlook, Steel prices have come under tremendous pressure especially from Russia, Brazil and other developing economies.
In Russia, local steel producers are planning on production cuts if the market remains weak. In Ukraine, domestic steel consumption is declining and steelmakers forecast stable demand for Sept/Nov………………………………………Full Article: Source

High-end consumers to be hit as products like plasma TVs, smartphones will cost more. In a major blow to high-end consumers, the prices of rare earth minerals have almost doubled in the second quarter of the current calendar year from the first quarter, mainly on account of various restrictions imposed by the Chinese government.
Rare earth minerals are used extensively for manufacturing plasma televisions, smartphones and energy-saving light bulbs, among a growing number of items. Almost the entire world supply comes from China……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Oil is set to keep outperforming copper due to tighter supply and the potential of OPEC production cuts, but it would likely slump along with the benchmark industrial metal if the world falls into a recession.
Both commodities, key inputs for the global economy, are strongly exposed to faltering growth, but their performances have diverged sharply……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The euphoria that gripped oil markets Tuesday — on news that leaders are putting together a concrete plan for saving the eurozone — is likely to be promptly snuffed out.
West Texas Intermediate light sweet crude oil for November delivery was popping $3.64 to $83.88 a barrel on the reports, and the December Brent crude contract was up $2.49 to $104.99. ………………………………………Full Article: Source

Iraq can produce as much as 5 million barrels a day of oil without needing to ask for OPEC’s permission, as this is a sovereign decision, the chairman of the Iraqi parliament’s oil and energy committee said.
“I don’t think OPEC is a constraint” to output of such a level, Adnan Al Janabi said today at the Iraq 2011: Future Energy conference organized by The Energy Exchange in Istanbul……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Amid the second-largest gold sell-off since 1983, the casual observer could be forgiven for thinking that investors were dumping bullion in droves.
Initial data suggests otherwise. The loss of confidence that caused gold prices to fall 10 percent in the four days through Monday has not yet unnerved investors in the leading gold exchange traded fund, nor caused futures traders to close out positions en masse, figures show……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The recent sell-off in gold may not be enough to make some hedge funds with long-term bull positions change their views that the metal is still one of the best bets for profit in a perilous global economy.
Gold has droppped around 11 per cent since the start of last week as liquidity-strapped investors scrambled to convert gold into cash amid fears over Greece’s near-bankruptcy, likely hitting a number of hedge funds which have profited from its bull run in recent years……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The potential sale of the London Metal Exchange, home to the city’s last open-outcry trading, means Metdist Ltd., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), MF Global (U.K.) Ltd., UBS Ltd. and Sucden Financial Ltd. have the most at stake.
The five companies are among the biggest shareholders in the 134-year-old bourse, according to a filing to the U.K.’s Companies House a year ago. The exchange told members in a notice on Sept. 23 that it had received “several expressions of interest” and would begin a process that may lead to “an acceptable offer for the company being received.”………………………………………Full Article: Source

India’s commodity exchanges are poised for steady growth over the next few years after annual turnover more than quintupled to $2.5 trillion since futures trading started in 2003, but political hurdles hinder more dramatic development.
While a bill to strengthen market oversight and free up entry of financial institutions and the launch of new products has hung fire since 2005, government moves such as bans on some agricultural futures trading have fed regulatory uncertainty……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Annual turnover on India’s commodity exchanges has more than quintupled to $2.5 trillion since futures trading started in 2003, but political hurdles hinder further development.
A bill for tougher oversight and freer entry of financial institutions and new product launches has waited for lawmakers’ approval since 2005, while government bans on trading in some agricultural futures have fed regulatory uncertainty……………………………………….Full Article: Source

A client having a demat account with a commodity futures broker can now trade on commodity spot exchanges so long as the broker maintains a separate ledger account for clients on either market, issues separate contract notes and meets the capital adequacy and networth criteria of each exchange.
A futures market allows a client to give or take delivery of an asset at a fixed price on a future date, while a spot exchange, in this context , entails delivery a day after a trade is executed or t+2 basis……………………………………….Full Article: Source

In troubled times, money tends to take flight from currencies perceived as risky and seeks shelter under the wings of traditional safe havens. The US economy may have plenty of issues of its own but there is a distinct lack of choice when it comes to financial safe havens these days, and the greenback seems to be the safest port in a storm.
Growing fears that governments are running out of tools to avert another global recession have knocked emerging market and commodity-linked currencies……………………………………….Full Article: Source

As the world gears up for the next round of United Nations climate-change negotiations in Durban, South Africa, in November, evidence has emerged that a cornerstone of the existing global climate agreement, the international greenhouse-gas emissions-trading system, is seriously flawed.
Critics have long questioned the usefulness of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which was established under the Kyoto Protocol……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Airlines denounced on Tuesday an EU plan to charge them for carbon emissions, warning it would cost the industry 17.5 billion euros ($23.8 billion) over eight years.
Three major airline associations charged that the European Commission was “grossly misleading” by stating the scheme could actually translate into 20 billion euros in revenue over the next decade……………………………………….Full Article: Source