By Henning Gloystein | SINGAPORE Oil prices surged more than 2 percent to a one-month high on Friday after the United States launched dozens of cruise missiles at an airbase in Syria, later dropping back as there seemed no immediate threat to supplies.
U.S President Donald Trump said he had ordered missile strikes against a Syrian airfield from which a deadly chemical weapons attack was launched earlier this week, declaring he acted in America's "national security interest" against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
After tepid trading before the attack, international benchmark Brent crude futures LCOc1 jumped to $56.08 per barrel before easing to $55.71 per barrel at 0519 GMT, still up 1.5 percent from its last close.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 also climbed by more than 2 percent, to a high of $52.94 a barrel before receding to $52.56, up 1.7 percent.
Both benchmarks hit their highest levels since early March.
"The U.S cruise missile strikes have seen crude oil jump over two percent in a straight line," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at futures brokerage OANDA in Singapore.
Halley said the strikes had potentially big implications for oil markets.
Syria has limited oil production, but its location in the Middle East and alliances with big oil producers raised worries about spreading conflict that could disrupt crude shipments.
"What will be the response of Iran and Russia, two of the world's largest oil producers and staunch allies of the Assad regime? ... We will have to wait for these answers as the day moves on," Halley said.
The strikes rattled global markets. Oil prices surged as traders priced in a Middle East risk premium, and safe-haven products like gold jumped =XAU, while stock markets and the U.S. dollar .DXY slumped. [MKTS/GLOB]
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Asia demand, hedging boosts trading in forward U.S. oil contracts Gold rises to five-month high on safe-haven demand as U.S. strikes Syria "Outside of the energy sector, investors have been moving into defensive sectors today, particularly utilities and gold miners," said Gary Huxtable, client adviser at Australia's Atlantic Pacific Securities.
U.S. officials said the military had fired 59 cruise missiles against a Syrian airbase controlled by Assad's forces, in response to a poison gas attack on Tuesday in a rebel-held area.
Officials said the United States had informed Russia the strikes were coming. The strikes did not target sections of the Syrian base where Russian forces were believed to be present.
Russian officials, however, said U.S.-Russian cooperation in Syria was in doubt after the air strikes.
(Reporting by Henning Gloystein; Editing by Richard Pullin and Tom Hogue)
China FX reserves stay above $3 trillion after small March rise BEIJING: China´s foreign exchange reserves stayed above $3 trillion in March, during which a pause in the dollar´s rally aided Beijing´s efforts to contain capital outflows.
Reserves rose $3.96 billion during March - less than the $5 billion predicted in a Reuters poll - to total $3.009 trillion, compared with $3.005 trillion at the end of February.
In January, reserves slipped below $3 trillion for the first time in nearly six years, but in February they moved back above that line with their first rise in eight months.
The March increase marks the first time reserves had increased two consecutive months since April 2016.Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said the way reserves were broadly stable in March "suggests that the recent easing of capital outflows has allowed the People´s Bank of China to step back from FX intervention".
"The obvious follow-up question is whether this halt to official intervention is a temporary phenomenon or a more permanent shift," he wrote in a note.
"Our hunch is that it will be temporary," asserting that the key factor in curtailing outflows was the pause in dollar appreciation rather than tighter capital controls.
China´s foreign-exchange regulator, in a statement on its website on Friday, said pressure on capital outflows eased somewhat in the first quarter.
Forex reserves are expected to further stabilise, the regulator said, adding that the monthly change in reserves´ total is also stabilising.
The March reserves data came out as Chinese President Xi Jinping is meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida, and one week before a U.S. Treasury´s currency report - which could label trading partners as currency manipulators - is due.
Xi urged cooperation with the United States on trade and investment.
China´s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), the regulator, said last week that pressure from capital outflows eased somewhat in 2016 and there will be greater flexibility in the yuan´s exchange rate in 2017.
The regulator also said that authorities will take measures to attract capital inflows this year.
In February, China´s central bank sold the smallest amount of foreign exchange in nine months, supporting the government´s assertions that capital outflows were easing amid tighter scrutiny of cross-border flows.
China has tightened rules on moving capital outside the country in recent months as it seeks to support the yuan currency and stem a slide in reserves.
It burned through nearly $320 billion of reserves last year but the yuan still fell about 6.5 percent against the dollar, its biggest annual drop since 1994.In recent weeks, the yuan has been steady against the dollar.
However, the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to have an impact on yuan´s value in the medium term.
Gold reserves value fell to $73.74 billion at the end of March, from $74.376 billion at end-February, data published on the People´s Bank of China website also showed.
Recent remarks by senior government officials seem to indicate that China is not firm in keeping its reserves above the $3 trillion mark, but prefers a gradual drop.
China does not have a "bottom line" for either the yuan exchange rate against the dollar or foreign exchange reserves, a senior PBOC official told Reuters in March.
Trump had said during the U.S. election campaign that he would declare China a currency manipulator on his first day in office.
But now foreign exchange policy experts say that the Trump administration looks unlikely to formally declare China a currency manipulator shortly after the U.S. leader meets Xi.
Dnex warrant exercise price is 50 sen. So please also buy some mother share since Dnex is only 46.5 sen below exercise price. If mother don't go up, Warrant cannot go up very high.
Buy wa yesterday 0.295 q sell at morning 0.330 sell out alr Cos no see phone just now got up to 0.345...if q 0.340earn more rm1500...but still ok la one day rm5250
North Korea prepares for ‘big event’ amid escalating US military pressure APRIL 13, 201712:17PM VideoImage
Trump says North Korea 'looking for trouble'
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Claire Bickers, staff writers, wires News Corp Australia Network Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Google+Share on RedditEmail a friend NORTH Korea is ready to launch a nuclear test at its Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, the 38 North monitoring group reported on Wednesday. The 38 North analysis group described the test site as “primed and ready.” “Commercial satellite imagery of North Korea’s Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site from April 12 shows continued activity around the North Portal, new activity in the Main Administrative Area, and a few personnel around the site’s Command Center,” the North Korea-related analysis website said. A barrage of recent North Korean missile tests has stoked US fears that Pyongyang may soon develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the US mainland. There is speculation that the country could be preparing a missile launch, or even another nuclear test -— this would be its sixth — to mark the 105th birthday anniversary of its founder Kim Il-Sung on Saturday. Kim Jong Un is reportedly planning a nuclear test. Picture: Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP Kim Jong Un is reportedly planning a nuclear test. Picture: Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via APSource:Getty Images
Ads by Kiosked Reports via the publicly-funded Voice of America and citing US officials said that North Korea “has apparently placed a nuclear device in a tunnel and it could be detonated Saturday AM Korea time.” President Donald Trump’s administration has been forceful in its warnings to Pyongyang that leave military options “on the table,” as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said. The threat carries extra weight after the US strike on a Syrian air base last week. “We are sending an armada. Very powerful,” Trump said Wednesday. “We have submarines. Very powerful. Far more powerful than the aircraft carrier.” He was referring to a strike group headed by the USS Carl Vinson supercarrier that has been re-routed to the Korean peninsula in a show of force against Kim. U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, will assist America’s military effort in North Korea. Picture: AP U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, will assist America’s military effort in North Korea. Picture: APSource:AP The strike group, which deployed with about 6,500 sailors, is still some way south, conducting exercises with the Australian navy. The US Navy already has a massive regional presence, including another carrier strike group headquartered at Yokosuka in Japan.
Why Trump may be about to decapitate North Korea: James Robbins Facebook Twitter Email Aa _ + James S. Robbins | Updated 6 hours ago It isn't safe to wait until a dictator can strike America. Imagine a world without communist North Korea. For the Trump administration, it’s easy if you try. President Trump tweeted that Pyongyang is “looking for trouble” and that he would “solve the problem” with or without North Korea’s neighbor and patron China. This was the latest in an escalating exchange of threats in which the Kim Jong Un regime threatened nuclear retaliation if “even a single bullet” was fired at the Hermit Kingdom. Meanwhile, the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group is headed towards the peninsula, and China has deployed 150,000 troops to the Korean border, possibly to mitigate the flood of refugees that would follow military action.
The USS Carl Vinson in the East China Sea on March 9, 2017. Sean M. Castellano, AFP/Getty Images The crisis is long in coming. Successive generations of policymakers have kicked the North Korea can down the road since the 1953 armistice. The Kim dynasty was allowed to maintain its totalitarian dystopia because the threat was mostly contained, and there was no solution that did not involve a general war that would devastate our prosperous democratic ally in South Korea. Instead, the world awaited the expected collapse of the nightmarish North Korean dictatorship. The collapse has yet to come. Now the calculus has changed. North Korea has an active nuclear weapons program and is rapidly developing the capability to deliver these weapons to the United States mainland. Kim Jong Un, the communist state’s third dynastic ruler, is determined to have a seat at the strategic nuclear table. If the United States waits, one of the most bellicose, seemingly least rational regimes in modern history will have the capability to kill millions of Americans at a stroke. The Trump administration has reportedly been drawing up contingency plans for solving the problem before millions of American lives are at stake. National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster said Sunday that deploying forces in the region was prudent and that President Trump has asked for “a full range of options to remove that threat to the American people and to our allies and partners in the region.” The Trump administration isn't the first to consider preemptive military action against North Korea. Defense secretaries from the Obama and Clinton administrations made the case in 2006. But active counterproliferation against North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs — which is to say, destroying them — has always been risky because of the threat of millions of North Korea troops swarming south.
Donald Trump to FIRE first strike before North Korea launches nuke test DONALD Trump has moved devastating Tomahawk missile launchers into the firing range of North Korea to launch a "pre-emptive strike".
122 By Jamie Micklethwaite / Published 14th April 2017 US drops LARGEST non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan Play Video The US president launched their biggest ever non-nuclear bomb at ISIS terrorists in Afghanistan, and is now turning his attention to North Korea.
The north has warned the world to expect something big at their festival to honour the founder of the nation.
Experts believe this could be their sixth nuclear test, and could be their biggest ever.
Donald Trump and Tomahawk missilesGETTY FIRING RANGE: US have made the first move by moving missiles into the peninsula Inside North Korea: The pictures Kim Jong-un doesn't want you to see Tuesday, 13th December 2016 Since 2008, photographer Eric Lafforgue ventured to North Korea six times. Thanks to digital memory cards, he was able to save photos that was forbidden to take inside the segregated state 1 / 62 Taking pictures in the DMZ is easy, but if you come too close to the soldiers, they stop youERIC LAFFORGUE/EXCLUSIVEPIX MEDI Taking pictures in the DMZ is easy, but if you come too close to the soldiers, they stop you Taking pictures in the DMZ is easy, but if you come too close to the soldiers, they stop you A rare example of an undisciplined kid in North Korea. The bus was driving in the small roads of Samijyon in the north, when this kid stood in the middle of the road In the art center of Pyongyang, we experienced a power outage, a daily event the North Koreans hate to show. When it happens, they tell you it's because of the american embargo On the highways, you can see trucks loaded with coal, since North Korea has big problem getting oil like during WW2 Something you can see often in North Korea, but still forbidden to photograph North Korea say foreign aid is a war debt, but taking pics of the WFP sign through the window of a house in a village is forbidden There are a lot of tired people since many have to ride their bikes for hours to go to work in the fields. Taking pictures of them is forbidden Intelligence officials have revealed the US has placed two devices capable of firing Tomahawk missiles into the Korean peninsula.
American bombers have also been positioned in Guam ready to strike if necessary.
And the US Carl Vinson has led a fleet of warships to the peninsula, along with Japanese allies.
Showdown on 'Day of the Sun': The White house furiously denies report it 'is prepared to launch preemptive strike with conventional weapons if it believes North Korea is about to test a nuclear bomb' US officials fear North Korea will perform nuclear weapons test on Saturday Satellite images taken yesterday show continued activity at Kim Jong-un's Punggye-ri Nuclear facility Pyongyang is preparing to mark its national 'Day of the Sun' to commemorate the birth anniversary of its founding president Kim Il Sung Tensions are high with North Korea warning of a nuclear attack on the US at any sign of American aggression If the US is convinced North Korea will follow through on nuclear test, it is prepared to deploy Tomahawk missiles and bombs, US officials said
USD/CHF nears parity as US Dollar Index moves below 100 By Eren Sengezer As the US Dollar Index continues to move lower in the NA session, the USD/CHF pair accelerates its bearish momentum towards the significant parity level. At the moment, the pair is down 0.35% at 1.0015.
The bearish momentum seems to be fueled mainly by the increasing selling pressure around the greenback.
With a break below 1.0000 (psychological level), the pair could extend the fall towards 0.9970 (200-DMA) and 0.9920 (Mar. 21 low). On the upside, resistances are aligned at 1.0060 (100-DMA), 1.0100 (psychological level/Apr. 10 high) and 1.0160 (Mar. 9 high).
US dollar declines amid rising geopolitical tensions Source : Last Updated: Tue, Apr 18, 2017 02:40 hrs New York, April 18 (IANS) The US dollar fell against other major currencies on Monday amid rising geopolitical tensions in the Korean Peninsula. The latest missile test conducted by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea spurred market demand for safe-haven currencies like Japanese yen on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported. The greenback declined against the yen and touched 108.14 during the session, the lowest level since mid-November. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.32 per cent at 100.190 in late trading. In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.0650 dollars from 1.0617 dollars, and the British pound added to 1.2575 dollars from 1.2512 US dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar climbed to 0.7594 US dollar from 0.7578 US dollar. The US dollar bought 108.69 Japanese yen, lower than 109.13 yen of the previous session. The US dollar fell to 1.0036 Swiss francs from 1.0052 Swiss francs, and it edged down to 1.3300 Canadian dollars from 1.3304 Canadian dollars. --IANS
40% over premium is still consider high. at current WD price means you are expecting mother to hit 0.85 which is still kinda of like a long way to go. But when mother moves nearer to 0.85 son will catch up move
This book is the result of the author's many years of experience and observation throughout his 26 years in the stockbroking industry. It was written for general public to learn to invest based on facts and not on fantasies or hearsay....
shahbj
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Posted by shahbj > 2017-04-07 08:19 | Report Abuse
Looks like today gonna b selling day for contra players..hope dnex can sustain the selling pressure..hold tight tight dnex..