Cheered News That

(Reuters) - Gold prices edged up on Monday on a better technical outlook after last week's gains, but the precious metal finished slightly lower for the month of April in a narrow trading range. Bullion dropped about 0.3 percent in April, posting a third straight monthly decline for the first time since 2000. A strong run of U.S. economic data have hit hopes for more monetary easing by the Federal Reserve, denting investment appetite for the precious metal. In early trading on Monday, bullion tumbled 1 percent in heavy volume. Then it gradually turned higher. Analysts cited technical buying as the metal held above key support last week. "Gold posted a bullish outside week last week, adding further fuel to our belief that a base is being formed for the next rally higher," Tom Fitzpatrick, ...

(Reuters) - London copper fell more than 1 percent on Friday after data showed China's economy grew slower than expected in the first quarter, reviving doubts about second-quarter demand from the world's biggest copper user. But the relatively modest decline suggested investors were hoping that slower growth in China, the world's No. 2 economy, would lead Beijing to roll out further monetary easing, while other better-than-expected Chinese data released on Friday also helped keep bearish sentiment in check. China's economy expanded at an annualized rate of 8.1 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, slowing for the fifth consecutive quarter and left the economy on track for its weakest full year of expansion in near three years. Economist polled by Reuters had forecast annual ...

(Reuters) - A Shenzhen government official on Thursday denied a Sina.com that the southern Chinese city will start a pilot project to allow Hong Kong banks to lend yuan directly to Shenzhen firms. The report by the Chinese Internet portal that Shenzhen will roll out a package of financial reforms "is not in line with facts", Wang Zhenchao, an official with the Shenzhen municipal government's finance work office, told Reuters. The Sina.com report, citing an internal government document, helped push up Shenzhen stocks .SZSA by nearly 2 percent as investors cheered the prospect of easier credit. Direct yuan lending would be an important link between China's onshore yuan and offshore yuan markets, and Beijing will take the ultimate decision on opening up the yuan market. The official China ...

(Reuters) - Shares slipped on Tuesday, led by losses in Hong Kong and Shanghai on underwhelming corporate earnings, while the euro held near its highest level in a week on easing fears about wider damage to the financial system from Greece's debt crisis. Commodities were broadly weaker, with base and precious metals both edging down, while crude oil eased more than half a percent on an improved supply outlook as Libyan exports are returning to pre-war levels faster than expected. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.5 percent. Tokyo markets were closed for a holiday. Financial spreadbetters predicted major European markets .FTSE .FCHI .GDAXI would open down 0.1-0.2 percent, while U.S. stock futures also dipped 0.1 percent. .EU .L "Momentum is ...

(Reuters) - Crude oil futures rose for a second day on Thursday as investors cheered progress on Greece's bond swap deal, which moved the beleaguered country nearer to unlocking funds it needs to avoid default. Tensions between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear ambitions provided further support. U.S. data showed unemployment benefit claims rose last week, but not enough to change the outlook that the labor market was growing stronger. That view helped crude hold gains. The jobless claims data bolstered expectations that Friday's U.S. government report on how the jobs market fared in February will show a solid rise in payrolls. Spread trading on Brent and the U.S. crude benchmark West Texas Intermediate also lifted the day's trade. "Worries of a debt default by Greece eased and ...

(Reuters) - Companies increased their hiring in February, shoring up expectations that the labor market recovery has moved into a higher gear. Separate data on Wednesday showed wages grew much more quickly at the end of last year than originally estimated, good news for consumers but a potential inflation problem for the Federal Reserve. The private sector added 216,000 jobs last month, according to the ADP National Employment Report, topping economists' expectations for a gain of 208,000. The ADP figures come ahead of the government's more comprehensive monthly labor market report on Friday, which includes both public and private sector employment. "After two years of expansion without much gains in employment, we're finally hitting the point where firms need to begin adding people in ...

(Reuters) - Gold rebounded on Thursday as physical bullion investors were tempted back to the market by the previous session's 5 percent price plunge, its biggest one-day drop since before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in October 2008. Spot gold was up 1.3 percent at $1,716.94 an ounce at 1058 GMT, while U.S. gold futures for April delivery were up $7.20 an ounce at $1,718.50. Spot prices fell more than 5 percent on Wednesday after Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke gave no hints that a third round of quantitative easing, which had been a key support of gold prices, was imminent in the world's largest economy. Activity in COMEX gold futures spiked to 342,000 lots that day, more than double both the previous session's volume and the one-month rolling average. "We had a sense that the ...

(Reuters) - Crude oil futures rose on Thursday a day after the Federal Reserve said interest rates should remain low well into 2014 and data showed an increase in orders for U.S. manufactured goods. That news sparked buying interest in riskier assets such as oil and other commodities. A threat from Iran to cut off its crude exports to the European Union earlier than July when an EU ban on Iranian crude takes effect also helped lift prices as it added to the geopolitical risk premium. A rally on Wall Street, usually an alternative gauge by oil traders for energy demand, sputtered late in the day due to downbeat U.S. home sales data, limiting the oil's gains, mostly for U.S. crude. In London, ICE Brent crude for March delivery settled up 98 cents at $110.79 a barrel, after hitting an ...

(Reuters) - Gold rose more than 1 percent to a 6-1/2-week high on Thursday as stock markets, commodities and the euro all rallied after the U.S. Federal Reserve extended by 18 months its plan to keep interest rates historically low and hinted at further economic stimulus. The day after the Fed's announcement, spot gold jumped to its biggest one-day rise in three months, then pulled back from session highs Fed policymakers said they probably would keep key U.S. interest rate targets near zero until at least 2014. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank was ready to offer additional economic stimulus. The news cheered gold investors, who have long feared that the precious metal's rally would be stressed by a U.S. rate hike, which would lift both the dollar and the opportunity cost ...