| STX Pan Ocean wins $273m coal shipping contract
SINGAPORE-LISTED STX Pan Ocean 028670.KS said the firm has won a contract to transport steaming coal worth $273 million. The South Korean dry bulk commodities shipper said that the 15-year deal, with Korea Southern Power Ltd, begins in 2011 and will be a stable source of profit for the company. -- REUTERS .
India gold futures fall, may test Rs 11,000
MUMBAI: Gold futures fell on Friday, after having seen a record high earlier this week, as overseas investors sold gold to cover margin calls in stocks and softer crude oil added bearish pressure, analysts said.
"Overall it is in a selling mode again," said an analyst at IL&FS Investsmart Commodities Ltd. "But it may bounce back again after testing its supports."
Another analyst, K N Rahaman, senior analyst at Way 2 Wealth Securities Ltd, said the benchmark February gold on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX) could test Rs 11,000 per 10 grams.
"But I am not bearish, slowly it can recover," Rahaman added.
The factors that backed gold's rally -- chances of a rate cut in the US and the growing clout of the commodities asset class -- are likely to continue supporting gold, the analysts said.
Platinum Hits Record on Supply Concerns
Other commodities traded broadly higher, with wheat futures rebounding after days of losses and energy futures also rising. Platinum has shot up 15 percent this month amid supply concerns fed by a South African energy shortage, which has slowed the vital mining industry and sent commodities prices spiking. The country's state-run power utility said Wednesday that the mines and other major customers will receive only 90 percent of their usual power supply until 2012 _ raising worries of significant setbacks in platinum production for years to come. Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., the world's second-largest platinum producer, said Thursday it has already lost 10,000 ounces in output and could lose another 10,000 ounces under the energy restrictions, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
Interest rates towards 10%
This makes the market nervous, so shares drop and volatility increases. The Reserve Bank is nervous about the inflation rate, and seeing the government offering no solutions, have to act decisively and increase interest rates. Whether you liked them or not, what Howard and Costello did is now done and in the past and can not be changed. Rudd needs to acknowledge this and get on with his job which is doing what he can from now into the future, not dwelling in the past. Posted by: Lucy of Brisbane 12:22pm February 12, 2008 Comment 124 of 163 .
Zimbabwe Dec Inflation Hits Record 66,212.3 pct
Zimbabwe's annualised inflation rate rose to a record 66,212.3 percent in December, dealing another blow to President Robert Mugabe's efforts to pull the once prosperous African nation's economy out of a deep crisis. Mugabe has made the battle against inflation the cornerstone of his government's effort to reverse an economic slide that many people blame on mismanagement and his controversial policies, including seizures of white-owned farms. "The year-on-year inflation rate for the month of December, as measured by the all items Consumer Price Index, stood at 66,212.3 percent, gaining 39,741.5 percentage points on the November rate of 26,470.8 percent," Zimbabwe's Central Statistical Office said in a statement on Thursday. Month-on-month inflation also rose to 240.1 percent in December from 131.4 percent in November, the CSO said.
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