Oil fell for the second time in a week after Saudi Arabia cut its crude prices for Asia more than expected, as the market eyed any impact from the fall of the Syrian regime. Brent futures traded near $71 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was above $67. Saudi Aramco cut its oil prices after OPEC+ further delayed the restart of stalled production, underscoring the weak market outlook. Meanwhile, the fall of the Syrian government sent shockwaves across the Middle East and would be a blow to longtime backers Russia and Iran. Crude prices have been confined to a tight range since...
Gold prices rose on Monday after China's central bank added bullion to its reserves in November — ending a six-month hiatus in a buying binge that had provided a major pillar of support for the precious metal. Bullion prices rose as much as 0.6% to trade just below $2,650 an ounce, after the People's Bank of China said Saturday it bought 160,000 troy ounces last month. The addition was the first since April, before the central bank halted purchases for 18 months that had helped prop up prices amid strong interest from global public institutions. China led demand in the first quarter of...
The AUD/USD pair strengthened around 0.6400 as the US Dollar (USD) weakened during the Asian session on Monday. There are no Federal Reserve (Fed) speakers this week as the media is closed. All eyes will be on the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) rate decision on Tuesday, with no rate changes expected. Data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday showed that US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) increased by 227,000 in November, compared to an upwardly revised 36,000 in October. This reading was better than the estimate of 200,000. Meanwhile, the Unemployment Rate rose to 4.2% in...