INTERNATIONAL COMMODITY NEWS :
Gold prices fell in Asia on Thursday after trhe Federal Reserve signaled it remained on track to raise interest rates this year, though the timing remains uncertain.On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery fell 0.11% to trade at $1,285.80 a troy ounce in Asia, while silver futures eased 0.56% to $17.987 a troy ounce.Gold edged lower in quiet trade on Wednesday as the Federal Reserve said the U.S. economy was expanding “at a solid pace” as it largely looked through weakness overseas in a signal that it remains on track to raise interest rates later this year.The U.S. central bank repeated it would be “patient” in deciding when to raise benchmark borrowing costs from zero, where they have been stuck since late-2008.
TRADING STRATEGY :
BUY GOLD ABOVE 1286 TARGET 1291 1297 SL 1280
SELL GOLD BELOW 1271 TARGET 1266 1260 SL 1277
Japan Exchange Group (JPX) and Singapore Exchange (SGX) are pleased to launch the JPX-SGX Co-Location Direct service which will commence in April 2015. This follows the Letter of Intent (LOI) signed between JPX and SGX in December 2014.
The JPX-SGX Co-Location Direct service will offer straight-through international network connectivity between JPX and SGX co-location data centres. Global customers will be able to enjoy greater cost efficiencies and low latency market access to both trading venues via this service, with KVH and NTT Communications as the appointed carriers. Global investors can also continue to manage their risks efficiently and tap on new opportunities by taking advantage of the mutually listed derivatives products and services offered by JPX and SGX.
Japan Exchange Group CEO Atsushi Saito said “We are very pleased that the LOI that we signed last December towards a cooperative relationship with SGX has quickly borne fruit. Among the different areas of cooperation agreed to in that document, we are particularly pleased with the creation of this new infrastructure service, which will provide the foundation for a bridge between the two exchanges going forward. We hope it will serve to boost both markets by enhancing the convenience of trading participants and expanding trading opportunities. JPX will continue to take innovative steps such as this in further developing Asian capital markets in the future.”
SGX CEO Magnus Böcker said “We are pleased with the development of the recent collaboration with JPX. SGX and JPX have been fostering a meaningful and steadfast partnership since 2000. We will continue to work closely with our partner to enhance the infrastructure and to support our customers in their business expansion in mutual markets and beyond.”
MARKET UPDATES :
- SINGAPORE shares end higher on Wednesday.The Straits Times Index gained 6.95 points to 3,419.15.Some 1.38 billion shares, valued at S$1.23 bllion were traded. Gainers numbered 233 while losers numbered 177.
- Singapore Exchange Ltd is seeing early signs of an improvement in trading volume following a number of measures taken to boost liquidity, the company’s chief executive officer told Reuters.”The first three weeks of this year are coming up much stronger than the same three weeks a year ago,” Magnus Bocker said in an interview. SGX has launched a series of initiatives over the past year to improve liquidity such as providing incentives for brokers to act as market makers and cutting the minimum number of shares that need to be purchased in a single trade from 1000 units to 100.
- OLAM International will redeem US$750 million bonds due 2018 on Feb 27, it said on Wednesday.This will be done at 103.375 per cent of the principal amounts of the bonds, together with unpaid accrued interest.The agri-commodities firm, which is in the midst of revamping its capital structure, earlier in January issued US$50 million in senior notes due 2020 to an institutional investor at a fixed coupon rate of 4 per cent. This was part of the US$5 billion Euro medium term note programme it established on July 6, 2012, and updated on July 14, 2014.
- The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Wednesday made a surprise cut to the slope of its Singapore dollar nominal effective exchange rate (S$NEER) as inflation pressure eases.The central bank will continue with the policy of a modest and gradual appreciation of the S$NEER policy band but the slope of the policy band will be cut.
