Expiring tomorrow, WTI crude oil for June delivery trades, with mildly downward bias, below 57 in Asian session as stock markets drop amid poor corporate earnings. The more active July contract hovers around 56.5/57.5 level.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 1.9% to 95.44 and Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average plunged 2.6% to 9020. Panasonic said last Friday that it may post a new loss of 195B yen in the fiscal year ending Mar 31 after losing 379B yen in the previous year. Mizuho, the second largest bank in Japan, reported a loss of 588.8B yen last year and announced plans to raise 800B yen through sales of stocks and [referred securities. These 2 companies led the decline in Japanese stock market and spurred selloff in other markets in the region. In Australia, S&P/ASX 200 Index slid 1.1% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 1.5%.

Nigerian militant attacked 2 oil and natural gas pipelines of Chevron Corp and 2 Filipino hostages were killed. The damaged pipelines supply crude and gas from Chevron's terminal to some state-run refiners.

Gold price edges higher to 933.5 despite rebound in the dollar. Investors probably value gold's safe-haven property again as equity markets decline. Risk appetite seems to have reduced since end of last week but we expect gold's rise will be choppy, rather than smooth as dollar's strength is still there and investment demand in gold remains sluggish.

The dollar index rebounds to 83.16, the highest in a week while the USD also gains against the euro, sterling and Australian dollar. Concerning ETF investment, gold holdings in SPDR Gold Trust stayed unchanged for a second day at 1105.62 metric last Friday.

Commitments of Traders
  • Crude Oil: Investors switchd from net short to net long position frot he week ended May 12
  • Gold: Net long position in gold futures increased by 8886 to 138877 contracts
  • Silver: Contined increase in net long positions may trigger long liquidation
  • Platinum: Net long positions have gained for the second weeks.