Taiwan has bought 20,000 tonnes of corn from China for delivery before the Chinese New Year holiday in late January, traders said on Tuesday, after the Taiwan government temporarily lifted a decades-old import ban.
The US Department of Agriculture may raise its estimate of the US 2003 soyabean harvest in its final crop estimates on January 12, Hamburg-based newsletter Oil World said.
A cold front will bring widespread rain and lower temperatures later this week to coffee areas in Parana state and the west of Sao Paulo state, independent meteorologist Somar forecast on Monday.
Stocks of robusta beans in the world's top exporter Vietnam have been plentiful as the harvest comes to an end, but local sellers are not unloading the coffee quickly on hopes of more gains, traders said on Tuesday.
Ivory Coast cocoa bean exports totalled 373,724 tonnes between October and December 21, down sharply from the same period a year earlier, official figures showed on Tuesday.
Singapore bunker prices were stronger on Tuesday following an overnight jump in crude oil prices but traders saw limited gains due to weak demand for the shipping fuel.
The Karachi Port handled 50,438 tonnes of cargo including 42,502 tonnes import and 7,936 tonnes export cargo during last 24 hours ending at 0700 hours on Tuesday.
The Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corp (Passco) has received 14 bids in response to a tender to import 150,000 tonnes of wheat at between $185 and $221 per tonne C&F, a company official said on Tuesday.
Kazakhstan, the biggest grain producer in Central Asia, harvested a 2003 crop of 14.8 million tonnes by clean weight, down seven percent on the record 2002 harvest, the agriculture ministry said on Tuesday.
The January vaida opened at Rs 454.50 which was also the highest level for the day. Later it was down and was quoted at Rs 453.50 and closed also at the same level.
Cotton prices surged on the market while no respite was seen in buying support extended by spinnners, relevant sources said, adding quality cotton is fast eroding.
Price changes were notified on Tuesday (January 6) in Jodia Bazar are as jute goods twine 20x3 Bawany brown down 75 paisa to Rs 31, 16x3 CRT/Indus down 50 paisa to Rs 30.50, 20x3 PJSL down 50 paisa to Rs 30.50, 8x3 down Rs 3 to Rs 45 and 40x2 Bawany brown
CSCE cocoa futures ended down 2,7 percent and close to a 5-week low on Monday as speculative selling overcame scale-down manufacturer buying, brokers said.
Some 479,451 tonnes of cocoa reached Ivory Coast's ports between the start of the 2003/04 season (October-September) and December 21, down nearly 18 percent from the same period last year, official data showed on Tuesday.
CSCE arabica coffee soared nearly 6 percent to a 3-month high near the close of trading Monday on options-related buying and industry purchases linked to a weak US dollar, floor traders said.
Asian differentials for March Middle East crude oil faced downward pressure on Tuesday amid a surge in Western benchmarks and high official selling prices (OSPs) from Middle East producers, traders said.
Thai corn prices are likely to stay firm in the next few days due to strong demand from the domestic poultry industry as supplies decline, traders said on Tuesday.
China and a new US trade pact with Central America will loom large over this week's annual meeting of the American cotton industry, officials and analysts said on Monday.
Oil prices hovered near nine-month highs on Tuesday, underpinned by worries that a cold snap in the United States will further draw down crude inventories already running at their lowest levels in five years.
Gold futures traded above $425 an ounce for the first time in more than 15 years in New York on Monday, starting the new year as it ended 2003 - rallying as investors diversified out of the crumbling dollar.
Gold bullion meandered in a narrow range in Asia on Tuesday, pausing for breath after prices rose in New York trade to levels not seen since December 1988.
Cotton plantings in 2004 for Texas, the biggest cotton-growing state in the country, will likely increase because of the robust rally in cotton futures prices, an economist said Monday.
COMEX copper futures jumped almost 4 percent on Monday to close at a 6-1/2 year peak as busy fund buying and robust Chinese demand extended a recent powerful rally in the red metal, traders and analysts said.
Shanghai copper futures climbed to fresh contract peaks on Tuesday for the third straight trading session, buoyed by fresh gains on the London Metal Exchange, traders said.
Malaysian tin was steady at $6,650 a tonne on Tuesday, with dealers unsure how long it would hold amid a record premium against tin on the London Metal Exchange (LME).
Bureaucratic woes in China and slow demand from Indian and European buyers could see little improvement in Malaysian palm oil exports in January after a gloomy December, industry sources said on Tuesday.
Azerbaijan said on Tuesday it would buy 100,000 tonnes of grain and 100,000 tonnes of flour from Russia in the next two months to cover domestic shortages after a poor harvest last year.
China is losing its appetite for soybeans ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays as crushing margins are poor due to soft domestic meal prices and a sharp rally in Chicago prices in the past several months.
Chicago Board of Trade soybeans ended mostly higher on Monday on talk of potential purchases by top US soy customer China and on fears that tight US soy supplies still needed to be rationed, traders said.
The Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX) said its eastern market indicator (EMI) rose two cents to 777 cents a kg clean on Tuesday when sales resumed for 2004.
Tokyo rubber futures sank on Tuesday in a technical correction, after prices inched up at the end of last year in light short-covering in the absence of fresh news.
China aims to launch fuel oil, cotton and corn futures at three exchanges in 2004 to inject more life into its derivatives sector, which saw futures volumes hit historic highs last year, state media and officials said.
Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended lower on Tuesday, reversing a firm morning, as players sold down on fears of a bearish crop report due on Wednesday from the market's main analyst.
Speculative buying and the absence of firm selling made London coffee futures soar on Tuesday following a strong New York market and with players profiting from a weak dollar, dealers said.
Nickel futures on the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed sharply lower on Tuesday, with the rest of the complex following suit, as profit-taking became the order of the day after the metals' brisk New Year rally, analysts said.
NYCE cotton futures ended slightly lower Tuesday after a bullish outlook from a major industry player failed to continue the rally in prices, brokers said.
Precious metals prices came off their highs in Europe on Tuesday afternoon, with gold and platinum down from respective 15- and 24-year highs as the bruised dollar crawled off the floor to prompt some profit-taking, traders said.
Speculative buying fuelled a London cocoa market rally that took prices almost five percent up on Tuesday amid uncertainty about the size of the 2003/04 crop in world top producer Ivory Coast, dealers said.
London feed wheat futures finished lower in modest volumes on Tuesday, weighed by weakness in the French market, where milling wheat contracts slipped amid renewed dollar weakness against the euro and fears of a pickup in farm sales, dealers said.
The US cotton industry will wrestle with several trade issues in 2004 that could hurt the livelihood of the American cotton farmer, industry officials said Tuesday.
Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures turned mixed on Tuesday in volatile trading with the market rattled by USDA's announcement that China booked 175,000 tonnes of US wheat, traders said.
Chicago Board of Trade corn futures sagged on Tuesday on speculative sales and light early positioning ahead of next week's key USDA crop report, traders said.
Chicago Board of Trade soybeans were narrowly mixed on Tuesday, with pressure from light speculative sales and a lack of fresh US soy export news offset by concerns about US soy supplies, traders said.
The Swiss franc was trading at levels around more than seven-year highs against the dollar in early Tuesday trading amid concerns about the US current account deficit, but was little changed on the euro.
The dollar was stuck against the euro and the yen on Tuesday, hanging near recent lows hit on worries about a festering US current account deficit and the prospect of US interest rates remaining low.
The dollar hit a record low versus the euro and reached a three-year nadir against the yen on Monday as the prospects for continued low US interest rates dulled investors' appetite for the currency.
Asian regional currencies rose against the US dollar on Tuesday, even as suspicion grew that central banks were in the market to restrict further gains.
The Indian rupee ended lower on Tuesday after state-run banks aggressively purchased dollars through the day on behalf of the central bank, dealers said.
Sterling hit 11-year highs against the dollar on Tuesday and gained ground on the euro as expectations for higher British rates gave the higher-yielding pound an additional advantage over its peers.
The dollar spiralled to a new record low against the euro on Tuesday in a broad-based sell-off but held on just above a three-year low on the yen, aided by suspected Japanese yen-selling intervention.
Bangladesh's first private air carrier, GMG Airlines, said on Tuesday it expected to begin international flights in March after winning government approval.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission may expand its fraud lawsuit against Parmalat as it investigates all aspects of the scandal enveloping the Italian food group, a top SEC official said on Tuesday.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission may expand its fraud lawsuit against Parmalat as it investigates all aspects of the scandal enveloping the Italian food group, a top SEC official said on Tuesday.
The US Army said on Tuesday it had granted Halliburton a waiver to bring fuel into Iraq via a no-bid deal with a Kuwaiti supplier despite a draft Pentagon audit that found evidence of overcharging for fuel.
The key services sector in the eurozone and Britain grew at a healthy, but slightly slower, pace in December, indicating that the economic storm clouds are gradually dispersing as Europe enters 2004.
Germany's third-largest bank Commerzbank said on Tuesday it would stop paying into company pension schemes for its 26,000 staff in Germany from 2005 as part of its cost-cutting drive.
The giant US services sector grew for the ninth straight month in December but the pace of expansion slowed, a report showed on Tuesday, confounding economists who expected a greater increase.
US technology giant IBM Corp could be banned from bidding for South Korean government contracts following a corruption probe of its South Korean unit, Seoul's anti-trust watchdog said Tuesday.
Complaining that new US procedures to deal with mad cow disease were not good enough, Japan said on Tuesday it would send a team to rival beef exporter Australia to look for alternative supplies.
Pledges by eurozone governments to cut budget deficits are likely to be eyed with greater scepticism in coming months following last year's severe blow to the disciplinary process underpinning EU budget rules.
Saudi Arabia is expected to ratify within weeks proposals to cut taxes on international investors to 20 percent from 30 percent in an effort to attract more foreign money, officials said on Tuesday.
China has injected $45 billion into two big state banks in a long-awaited bail-out of the debt-ridden industry, a major step towards strengthening the Achilles' heel of the world's sixth-biggest economy.
Russia's 2003 budget surplus was 1.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) beating the official target for the year, TASS news agency quoted Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov as saying on Tuesday.
Nearly 40,000 chickens have died from a mystery virus in two provinces in southern Vietnam but as many as 400,000 are thought to be infected, officials said Tuesday.
Employment in Germany shrank last year at the fastest pace in a decade as Europe's largest economy suffered its weakest period since a recession in 1993.
US Treasury prices ended mixed on Monday as upbeat auto sales, construction numbers and stock gains weighed on a market still smarting from robust manufacturing data that came out late last week.
US Treasury prices ended mixed on Monday as upbeat auto sales, construction numbers and stock gains weighed on a market still smarting from robust manufacturing data that came out late last week.
Taiwan stocks edged higher to close at a 20-month high on Tuesday, with gains in the financial sector offset by weaker technology shares due to expectations of slower exports in the first quarter.
Philippines stocks rose more than three percent to end at a fresh 33-month high on Tuesday, powered by Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co (PLDT) and Globe Telecom Inc.
US technology stocks rose on Monday, pushing the Nasdaq Composite Index to its highest close in nearly two years, as software maker Siebel Systems Inc forecast higher-than-expected profit for the fourth quarter.
Singapore shares finished flat on Tuesday after hitting a 34-month high at midday as sentiment was dampened by news that the government was planning to divest part of its stake in Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.
Jakarta stocks eased on Tuesday after rallying to their highest level since the Asian financial crisis the previous day, pulled down by late profit taking.
Japan's Nikkei stock average ended down on Tuesday to snap a four-day winning streak, as investors turned wary of a strong yen and recent gains in the market and took profits on Toyota Motor Corp and other exporters.
Top Hong Kong shares ended higher for the seventh straight session on Tuesday as investors switched into property counters such as Wharf Holdings and away from pricey China plays on expectations of improved local economic growth.
Thai stocks fell more than two percent on Tuesday as energy shares came under pressure after a share swap deal at lower than market prices and bank stocks were hit by government approval of a plan to encourage mergers.
Technology stocks inched up and blue chips eased on Tuesday after a report showing the vast US services sector grew at a weaker-than-expected clip kept a lid on investors' sentiment following a rally on Monday.