Gold Rebounds on Weak Dollar, Market Eyes Fed Meeting

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Gold bounced back on Monday, inching closer to last week's 13-month high as the dollar remained under pressure ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting.

Spot gold rose 0.4 percent to $1,252.50 an ounce by 0009 GMT while U.S. gold eased 0.5 percent to $1,253.40 an ounce.

The main focus is the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting on March 15-16. The Fed lifted rates for the first time in nearly a decade in December.

After rolling out bold measures to boost the euro zone economies, including increased asset buying and a deeper cut to deposit rates, ECB President Mario Draghi on Thursday signalled there would be no further rate cuts.

The relatively weak dollar and a repricing of expectations for U.S. interest rate rises have helped gold rebound by more than 18 percent this year so far. Bullion regained its role as a shelter for risk-averse investors, in the face of tumbling equities and fears of a global economic slowdown.

Hedge funds and money managers increased their bullish position in COMEX gold to the highest in 13 months in the week to March 8, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday, as safe-haven buying lifted prices to the highest since February 2015.

Physical gold demand slowed in top consumer China last week, while a strike by jewellers protesting against the imposition of a tax curbed demand in No. 2 market India.

Source: Reuters

Oil Falls in New York After Iran Pledges to Boost Production

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Oil fell from the highest settlement in more than three months as Iran said it plans to boost production.

Futures dropped as much as 0.9 percent in New York after advancing 1.7 percent Friday. Iran plans to boost crude output to 4 million barrels a day before it will consider joining other suppliers in seeking ways to rebalance the global market. Rigs targeting oil in the U.S. fell by 6 to 386, according to Baker Hughes Inc., the least since December 2009. That’s the 12th week of declines.

Oil has recouped its losses this year after slumping to a 12-year low last month amid speculation stronger demand and falling U.S. production will ease a supply glut. Prices may have passed their lowest point as shrinking supplies outside OPEC and disruptions inside the group erode the global surplus, the International Energy Agency said Friday.

West Texas Intermediate for April delivery fell as much as 33 cents to $38.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and traded at $38.41 at 10:01 a.m. Sydney time. The contract climbed 66 cents to $38.50 on Friday. Prices rose 7.2 percent last week. Total volume traded was about 70 percent below the 100-day average.

Brent for May settlement lost as much as 19 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $40.20 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract rose 0.9 percent to $40.39 on Friday, capping a 4.3 percent increase for the week. The global benchmark crude was at a premium of 33 cents to WTI for May.

Source: Bloomberg

Chinese Stocks Advance After New Watchdog Head Pledges Support

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Chinese stocks rose, led by technology and industrial companies, after the new head of the securities regulator signaled he’ll keep propping up the equity market and go slow on reforms that might have flooded exchanges with new shares.

The Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.7 percent. Liu Shiyu, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said it was far too early to think about the state rescue fund leaving the market, while a new registration-based system for IPOs would take time. China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. headed for its biggest gain in a month in Hong Kong after saying it will buy property assets held by Citic Ltd. for about 31 billion yuan ($4.8 billion).

The Shanghai gauge fell 2.2 percent last week as suspected state intervention failed to reverse losses in the world’s worst-performing equity market. Data over the weekend showed the nation’s industrial production and retail sales both grew less than economists forecast in the first two months of 2016, while China’s broadest measure of new credit for February came in less than half of the estimate in a Bloomberg survey.

The Shanghai Composite traded at 2,826.85 at 9:38 a.m. local time. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index climbed 1.2 percent, while the Hang Seng Index advanced 0.8 percent.

Source: Bloomberg

Japan Stocks Rise Third Day as Machine Orders Surge, BOJ Meets

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Japanese stocks rose for a third day as machine orders surged more than expected ahead of a central bank monetary policy review and after the yen weakened as U.S. equities climbed to their highest level in 2016.

The Topix index gained 1.2 percent to 1,375.78 at 9:01 a.m. in Tokyo, with about 19 shares rising for each that fell. The gauge posted its first weekly decline in four weeks last week, after jumping 15 percent over the preceding three weeks. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 1.3 percent to 17,151.73 on Monday. The yen traded at 113.80 to the dollar after losing 0.6 percent on Friday. It also fell against the euro on Friday.

Japan’s core machine orders jumped 15 percent in January from a month earlier, beating December’s 4.2 percent increase and higher than economist forecasts for a 1.9 percent gain.

Source: Bloomberg

Asian Stocks Rise for Third Day Ahead of Central Bank Meetings

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Asian stocks rose after four weeks of gains, tracking a global rally that sent U.S. equities to their highest this year, as Japanese shares led the advance.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.6 percent to 127.47 as of 9:01 a.m. in Tokyo, extending its gain from this year’s low to 13 percent. The focus now turns to policy decisions this week by the Bank of Japan, the Federal Reserve and others after stocks jumped on Friday as investors reevaluated the European Central Bank’s stimulus. Chinese data over the weekend showed industrial production and retail sales both slowed in the first two months of the year, highlighting the pressure leaders face to meet this year’s growth target.

The Asian equity measure has pared its loss for 2016 to 3.5 percent, spurred by a rebound in oil, other commodities and banking shares. Stocks in Shanghai are still one of the worst performers among 93 primary indexes tracked by Bloomberg with a 21 percent drop this year.

Source: Bloomberg