skip to main |
skip to sidebar
The Russian ruble dropped to a new all-time low against the U.S. dollar on Friday while other oil-related currencies also got crushed a day after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries did nothing to alleviate an oil glut.
The dollar bought 7.0215 Norwegian krone USDNOK, +1.49% versus 6.939 krone late Thursday, marking its strongest level versus the Norwegian currency since March 2009. The krone’s weakness came even as Norway’s unemployment rate fell to 2.6% in November and retail sales grew 0.6% in October, noted Charalambos Pissouros, senior technical analyst at IronFX, on Friday. 3
The dollar rose 0.7% versus the Canadian dollar USDCAD, +0.74% to fetch C$1.1426
The euro EURUSD, -0.13% fell 0.1% versus the dollar to $1.2443, while the ICE dollar index DXY, +0.24% , a measure of the U.S. unit against a basket of six major rivals, rose 0.8% to 88.337.
The dollar USDJPY, +0.78% was at ¥118.66, up from ¥117.74 late Thursday in New York.
January platinum PLF5, -2.31% fell $17, or 1.4%, to $1,211.30 an ounce, while March palladium PAZ4, +0.98% the most actively traded contract for the metal, rose $10.80, or 1.3%, to $813.30 an ounce.
Oil futures on Friday settled at their lowest in five years as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ decision to keep crude production the same heightened fears that the existing glut in the oil market would persist.
sweet crude futures for delivery in January CLF5, -10.45% was off $7.54, or 10%, to settle at $66.15 a barrel on Friday.
January Brent crude LCOF5, -3.53% on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $2.43, or 3.4%, to finish at $70.15 a barrel. That was Brent’s lowest settlement since May 25, 2010.
Gold prices took a dive on Friday as the market geared up for what could be the metal’s own OPEC moment — when Switzerland will vote on whether its central bank should hold more gold and bring back its other gold reserves held in places like Canada and the U.K.
December gold GCZ4, -2.60% fell $21.40, or 1.8%, to $1,175.20 an ounce, while silver SIZ4, -7.15% tumbled $1.06 cents, or 6.4%, to $15.49 an ounce. U.S. markets took a holiday on Thursday and closed early on Friday at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
MALAYSIAN shares ended lower on Friday with the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index slipping 9.02 points to close at 1,820.89.
Some 1.87 billion lots, valued at RM1.99 billion were traded. Gainers numbered 241 while losers numbered 609.
