Commodities Latest News..

TraderPRO

Well-Known Member
#13
Commerce Ministry calls for easing curbs on gold imports

Commerce Ministry calls for easing curbs on gold imports

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry today made a case for easing curbs on gold imports as over—regulation is encouraging smuggling of the yellow metal.

“I have been of the consistent view that we have to have a balance. Over—regulation leads to another problem...and that is smuggling. Therefore, some easing is essential,” Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma told reporters here.

Sharma said he has taken up the issue with the Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India.

“The Commerce Secretary and the Director General of Foreign Trade will take it forward. We have to ensure adequate availability of gold for gems and jewellery industry. This is very important sector for exports,” Sharma added.

The minister said public sector units such as MMTC are ensuring adequate availability of gold to the industry.

To contain rising gold imports, the government had increased customs duty on the yellow metal three times in 2013. The levy currently stands at 10 per cent.

The Reserve Bank also linked imports of the metal to exports amid a widening current account deficit (CAD) and depreciation of the rupee.

Gold imports, which touched a high of 162 tonnes in May, fell to 19.3 tonnes in November in the wake of the curbs by the government and the RBI.

A spurt in gold imports had pushed the CAD to a record high of USD 88.2 billion, or 4.8 per cent of GDP, in the previous financial year.

Gems and jewellery exporters, who contribute to about 15 per cent of the country’s total shipments, raised concerns over the import restrictions and are demanding easing of the norms. Gems and jewellery exports in January contracted 9.39 per cent.

According to the government, gold smuggling shot up last year on account of price fluctuations, import restrictions and high customs duty. In 2013, the value of gold bars and biscuits seized amounted to Rs 271.15 crore.

Source: The Hindu
 
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TraderPRO

Well-Known Member
#14
Change in mcx trade timings

Due to the US daylight saving time shift from March 9 2014, MCX trade timings are changed.

WEF from Mar10, for the Non Agro products the Trade timing will be from 10:00 AM to 11:30pm.

Source : MCX
 

TraderPRO

Well-Known Member
#15
Ukraine and NG for Europe

Part of Ukraine's significance on the world stage is its location. Europe currently depends on Russia for about 40% of its natural gas, according to Jeffrey Mankoff, deputy director of the Russia and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. About half of that supply flows through pipelines in Ukraine.
Ukraine's dependence is even higher – one of the terms of Russia's controversial deal with Kiev included steep discounts on natural gas. Russia has cut off that flow in past disputes with Ukraine; another disruption could push up energy prices for businesses and households.

Source :CNN
 

TraderPRO

Well-Known Member
#16
China’s hot money crackdown is spooking markets

Financial markets are on high alert, as they wait to see whether Beijing’s move to crack down on “hot money” inflows will trigger further steep falls in commodity prices.

The nervous state of markets has made them fertile ground for rumours. Overnight, the copper price dropped sharply on speculation that a hedge fund that had borrowed heavily to amass a large copper position was being forced to unwind its position and that another Chinese corporate could be about to default.

The latest bout of nervousness was triggered after the Chinese central bank last month issued a stark warning to speculators and Chinese borrowers not to count on a continued appreciation of the Chinese currency, the yuan (or renminbi). So far this year, the People’s Bank of China, which keeps a tight grip on the currency, has pushed the yuan down by 1.4 per cent, a stark contrast to the 2.9 per cent rise it saw in 2013.

The PBOC’s move has sent ripples through global financial markets. In recent months tens of billions of dollars that have flowed out of troubled emerging markets has headed to China, which was seen as largely immune from currency risk. For Chinese firms, it made huge sense to borrow in a currency that was likely to drop, such as the Japanese yen, and to use the proceeds to buy high-yielding Chinese assets.

Riskier borrowers, such as small property developers, which were shunned by the major banks used copper and iron ore as collateral for their loans from China’s “shadow banks”.

Typically they would buy copper or iron ore abroad, using US dollars or yen, and store the commodities in China for use as collateral for yuan-denominated loans.

TWO COMMODITIES TAKE PLUNGE
But the yuan’s fall has choked off some inflows of foreign funds into the shadow banking system. And this, combined with mounting concerns over Chinese growth, has caused the prices of these two commodities to plunge. This week, the copper price has tumbled to its lowest level since July 2010, while the iron ore price hit its lowest level since October 2012.

These falls have prompted growing margin calls from nervous lenders, worried that the value of their collateral is falling. The fear is that an increasing number of borrowers could be forced to liquidate their stockpiles of copper and iron ore in order to repay their loans, and that this could drive the prices of both commodities even lower.

Tensions were further exacerbated last week by the first default on a publicly traded corporate bond in China, of solar-panel maker Chaori Solar.

Analysts said that although it was important for Beijing to show that it did not intend to bail out reckless lenders, the default could be merely the tip of an iceberg as the Chinese credit bubble bursts.

In particular, they warn that loss-making steel mills could be forced to cancel iron ore orders as their funding dries up in the wake of last week’s bond default.

Source :Financial Review
 

TraderPRO

Well-Known Member
#18
MCX from instructions from FMC has instructed all the members to disclose and monitor the margins maintained by the customers.

Exchange has issued circulars for monitoring the margins maintained by clients and penalties would be charged for non compliance from this week.

Going forward, one can expect tightening of exposures from brokerage houses.
 

ashu1234

Well-Known Member
#19
Yes, already noticed from the last week, RMS is quite strict now regarding leveraged position, heard from my company that if you carry over over leveraged position overnight thrice your account will be disabled for trading for a month!! :)
Strange....Lets see what else is there.
 

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