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Copper back

Since the violence began in Libya, attention is focused on soaring oil which rattled equity markets. But the riots that shook the country Gaddafi also have visible consequences on other raw materials. Starting with the base metals. On the London Metal Exchange (LME), traders were massively diverted from these values that are at risk because very context-dependent economy. The possible spillover of tensions in the Middle East has again raised fears the worst for global economic recovery.

Result: the price of all metals have recorded huge declines. The copper market barometer, was particularly affected him since the end of 2010 which connects the records. The crisis in Libya has put a serious brake on the rise.On Tuesday alone, as violence soars the price of a barrel of crude over $ 7 in New York, copper prices tumbled nearly 4%. The red metal hit Thursday its lowest level since Jan. 26, at 9311 dollars per tonne. He lost nearly 2% in five days.

In his fall, he drives the nickel lost 4.5% on the week to finish at 27,710 dollars per tonne. Lead is 2495 dollars, dropped 4.6%. Aluminum has fared better: he loses "only" 1.15% and ended at 2558 dollars.

The situation shows no signs of improvements in Libya, the return of investors in this market should take some time. But China, whose imports are very important, could bring them back. Moreover, many traders were waiting for the decline of certain metals such as copper, before repositioning.The bargain-hunting could be quickly put together courses.

Gold, victorious

Risk aversion is, however, the happiness of safe haven. Gold, the most emblematic of them, is a perfect example. The yellow metal climbed back above Monday to $ 1,400 an ounce, the highest since Jan. 4 last. On Thursday, the yellow metal has even brushed his absolute record (1,431.25 dollars) to 1418.20 dollars. Gold has slowed the pace this weekend so that the lull was back on the oil markets and equity markets. It closed the week at 1402.50 dollars. The sequence of events should be interesting to follow because gold is correlated to oil fast payday loans.

In the wake of gold, silver is also mounted, touching 34.31 dollars per ounce on Tuesday, a level not seen since March 1980. Like gold, it cut its earnings over the weekend to finish at 32.54 dollars.

In the market for precious metals, platinum, however, are the red lanterns for their industrial applications. As base metals, they were penalized by fears of an economic slowdown. Tuesday, while the price of crude hit record highs, the price of platinum has plunged 70 dollars and that of palladium over $ 60. The international context was also been added in China, explaining his fears of slowing auto market. On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, an ounce of platinum finished Friday net decrease to 1791 dollars an ounce and palladium ended at $ 785.

Sugar falls further up the coffee

As for food, the week was marked by the continued decline in sugar prices.Investors noted that production volumes in Brazil and India could increase with the expansion of crop areas. In Brazil, the world's largest producer, output is forecast to increase by 5% to 35.2 million metric tons for the year 2011-2012. In India, production will jump 24% to 25.5 million. Result: New York, a tonne of white sugar for May delivery dropped to 27.64 cents while in London, it reached 699.50 pounds. Please note that hedge funds contribute to the overall decline. They have reduced their exposure long (buy position) of 7% in the second week of February.

In contrast, cocoa prices, affected by the Ivorian crisis, have hit their highest level in 32 years to 3666 dollars per ton in New York.

Their sides, coffee prices have been driven by renewed investor interest in hedge.In New York arabica climbed Tuesday to 278.40 cents a pound (not seen since late May 1977) and the same day, a tonne of Robusta reached in London in 2417 dollars (highest level since mid- March 2008).

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