Shanghai Futures Exchange To Begin Gold After Hours Trade

As it seeks to win new foreign business, China's largest commodities market, The Shanghai Futures Exchange is looking to launch after hours trading before the end of 2013. The Exchange has 10 trading categories, including gold, silver, copper and aluminum.

The extended trading hours are set to make a big difference for institutional investors trading in precious metals, since they are highly sensitive to international news.

The Exchange is of the opinion that after hours trading could help attract more European and US investors to the market, and would also help market participants hedge or adjust their positions in response to market news during the European and US business day.

For instance, precious metal futures contracts usually react strongly to US nonfarm payroll data. The information comes in around 8.30 pm local time, when the markets are technically closed. Given the after hours trade, investors could cut their holdings in a more timely manner.

The exchange now trades from 9 am to 11.30 am and from 1.30 pm to 3 pm Beijing time. After hours trading refers to the buying and selling of securities on major exchanges outside of specified regular trading hours. 

India's two premium stock exchanges, the Bombay Stock Exchange, which is Asia's oldest bourse, and the National Stock Exchange too decided to advance their trading hours by opening an hour early way back in 2009, to align the timings with those in major Asian markets. Both the exchanges have after hour trades.

In February 2013, the world’s largest exchange company, the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing won regulatory approval to start after hours futures trading. The idea was to move into globally traded asset classes. 

The HK Exchange is also considering instituting after hours trading in gold futures at a later date. The Exchange, which carried out a $2.2 billion takeover of the London Metals Exchange in December last year, has noted that its implementation of after hours futures trading is a mandatory step toward moving into trading of foreign exchange and other classes of assets traded on a global basis.

Source : GlodSilver.com

Silver’s Industrial Demand: The Best Is Yet to Come(financialsense)

                                        As the price of silver searches for a bottom, and as many wonder if the precious metals’ bull is over, it is worth re-examining the other source of demand for silver: namely, from industry. This is also important if in fact the world is moving toward some kind of recovery, where you would think the price of silver would catch a bid from industrial users.

In recent years, the rise of the silver price has come almost exclusively from investment, or monetary demand (an important reminder for anyone who claims silver isn’t money, by the way.) But there have been periods of time when silver’s industrial demand drove the price of the white metal higher. In the period between roughly 1900 and 1970, industrial demand for silver increased over 4 times- from 100 million to 400 million ounces. The industrial revolution in silver was due largely to the urbanization and technological revolutions taking place in twentieth century life. Whether we are talking about indoor plumbing, electricity, cars, or aerospace technology, silver proved to be an indispensable metal. One of the largest industrial uses for silver came from photography, invented by Frenchmen Nicephore Niecpe in 1822, and made more popular by Daguerre in the 1840s. By the twentieth century millions of ounces of silver were needed just for photography. But in terms of silver demand, this was just the tip of the iceberg.

Silver to recover faster than Gold from present slump (Bullionstreet)

Silver could come back anytime even though it is in the same sinking boat with gold at the moment, analysts said.

The white metal dropped 0.6 percent in the first week of March and is down 5.8 percent so far this year, which is approximately 42.3% from its high 22 months ago.However, the silver price outlook still remains bright, according to the forecasts of major financial and investment firms.

According to Swiss America Trading Corporation, silver will keep its robust investment rate. A massive demand is expected to lead to an oversold moment. And when that time comes, there will be a great number of investors ready to pour money into the white metal.

Swiss American believes that at the very moment silver is being oversold more than in the past decade. In respect, prices are projected go grow in relation to the supply shortage and rising industrial demand.

Morgan Stanley sees the white metal averaging to $35 per ounce next year. According to its analysts, silver is gold’s cheaper proxy. Therefore Morgan Stanley expects the metal to outperform gold in 2013.

UBS also signaled improvement ahead stating the firm was keeping its three month target for silver at $37 per ounce.

Oil down in Asian trading after modest U.S. gains (Investing.com)

                       Oil futures are trading slightly lower during Tuesday’s Asian session on the heels of modest gains seen in U.S. trade Monday.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for April delivery fell 0.12% to USD91.94 per barrel in Asian trading Tuesday after rising slightly in the U.S. on Monday. On Monday, oil traded down by as much as 1.2% following the release of some concerning data points out of China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer.

China's industrial production rose 9.9% in February, below expectations for a 10.5% increase also below a 10.3% hike logged during the previous month.

Consumer prices in China rose by 3.2% in February from a year earlier, above expectations for a 3% increase and accelerating sharply from a 2% rate of increase in January.

Those data points, which fuel speculation the Chinese recovery has not yet reached the pitch market participants have hoped for, combined with news Saudi Arabia increase output last month are seen as weighing on crude prices.

Goldman Sachs added on Monday that U.S. crude supplies could increase in the second and third quarters as more pipeline capacity becomes available.

Elsewhere, the U.S. state of Colorado said its 2012 oil production climbed to 48 million barrels, a 50-year high, due in large part to increased production at the Niobrara Shale. Colorado’s oil production was less than 33 million barrels in 2009.

Some estimates say the Niobrara Shale could be home to more than 4 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Anadarko Petroleum is among the major producers there.

Meanwhile, Brent crude for May delivery fell 0.01% to USD109.53 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.