Chinese speculators drive record-breaking gold rally

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite tales on this weekly publication.

Good morning. We begin as we speak with the explosion of Chinese language gold buying and selling exercise, which has helped supercharge the valuable steel’s record-breaking rally this month.

Enormous bets by Chinese language speculators on rising gold costs have boosted the rally, in an indication that Asian merchants are starting to eclipse their western counterparts of their affect on the bullion market.

Lengthy gold positions held by futures merchants on the Shanghai Futures Alternate (SHFE) climbed to 295,233 contracts, equal to 295 tonnes of gold. That marks an increase of virtually 50 per cent since late September earlier than geopolitical tensions flared up within the Center East.

Gold volumes on SHFE surged to greater than 5 occasions final yr’s common at 1.3mn heaps on the height day of buying and selling final week. Analysts stated the buying and selling frenzy helped clarify the ferocity of gold’s record-breaking rally to above $2,400 a troy ounce this month.

“Chinese language speculators have actually grabbed gold by the throat,” stated John Reade, chief market strategist on the World Gold Council, an business physique. Listed below are a number of the companies making bullish bets.

And right here’s what else I’m maintaining tabs on as we speak:

Financial knowledge: Japan and Australia report month-to-month inflation figures, whereas the Financial institution of Korea publishes its Client Sentiment Index.

US-China relations: US secretary of state Antony Blinken travels to China within the two nations’ newest effort to handle tense relations.

Indonesia charge determination: The opportunity of a charge enhance has risen to arrest the current slide of the rupiah.

Outcomes: Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, Samsung C&T, Boeing and Canon are amongst these reporting first-quarter earnings.

5 extra high tales

1. Hong Kong’s greatest preliminary public providing of the yr flopped yesterday as shares of Chinese language bubble tea chain ChaPanda dropped as a lot as 38 per cent from its itemizing worth in its buying and selling debut. ChaPanda, also referred to as Chabaidao, raised nearly HK$2.6bn (US$331mn), with shares priced at HK$17.50. The poor efficiency comes at a time when the town is struggling to revive its inventory market.

2. Elon Musk has pledged to enchantment towards a court docket order in Australia to wash footage of a violent assault in Sydney from his X social media platform, accusing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s authorities of censorship. No less than 4 folks have been injured within the assault final week on an Assyrian church, which police have referred to as a “terrorist incident” of “spiritual motivated extremism”. Right here’s extra on Musk’s dispute with Canberra.

3. Police have arrested a staffer working for a German far-right member of the European parliament on fees of spying for Beijing. The worker was accused by Germany’s federal prosecutor yesterday of being covertly employed by China’s Ministry of State Safety, the newest alleged Chinese language agent to be unmasked in a pattern alarming safety authorities throughout the continent.

4. Unique: India is searching for to shore up its entry to crucial minerals corresponding to lithium, because it rushes to meet up with rivals together with China within the race to construct next-generation power provide chains. New Delhi is pushing state-owned mining teams to pursue mineral reserves in South America and Africa in addition to inviting bids to develop home mining blocks, a authorities official informed the FT.

5. JPMorgan Chase chief government Jamie Dimon stated the US economic system is “booming” however warned that he was “on the cautious facet” of there being a mushy touchdown. In a wide-ranging interview yesterday on the Financial Membership of New York, Dimon additionally praised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who’s campaigning for one more five-year time period in energy.

Information in-depth

Jeff Yass’s Susquehanna Worldwide Group first invested $80,000 in ByteDance, the Chinese language proprietor of TikTok, on the again of an concept sketched on a serviette in a Beijing espresso store greater than a decade in the past. His world quantitative buying and selling agency adopted up with one other $2mn months later — a stake that’s now value an estimated $40bn and represents a major a part of Yass’s wealth. However the Republican donor’s fortune is now hostage to the rising political rigidity between the US and China. Underneath stress, he has gone on the offensive.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

China-Russia commerce: On paper, business ties between the 2 nations look enormous. However their commerce friendship might not be fairly what you assume, writes Agathe Demarais of the European Council on Overseas Relations.

Secret of sleep: Bamboo pyjamas and sensors in beds — whereas scientists search to elucidate the mechanics of sleep, companies can hold exploiting our tiredness, writes Leo Lewis.

When to loosen: An ECB rate of interest reduce quickly would make sense however the Fed faces a harder name within the US, writes Martin Wolf.

Chart of the day

Age discrimination is especially obvious in China’s tech sector, the place older employees are broadly perceived as being much less keen to place up with the notorious 996 schedule — 9am to 9pm, six days every week. Tech executives overtly state their desire for youth, a pattern that has change into solely extra entrenched with progressive waves of job cuts within the tech sector, pushed by an financial slowdown and regulatory considerations.

Take a break from the information

How will you make earn a living from home fantastic, asks Rhodri Marsden. A strolling pad, Razer’s newest chair, a hi-fi speaker and Apple’s latest MacBook Air is what he recommends, and extra.

Further contributions from Nora Redmond and Irwin Cruz