Gold, oil, copper and a number of other commodities fell after the US dollar rose to a three month higher against the euro in holiday-affected trading Friday.
Equities were generally weak as well, in mostly thin post -Thanksgiving trading.
The greenback rose as the fears about some eurozone economies, led by Ireland, Portugal and Spain, saw investors opt to de-risk and opt for safety.
The euro tumbled 3.2% last week, ending at $US1.3242, from $US1.3673 the Friday before.
The euro is down more than 5% in November so far off the back of the intensification of the problems in Ireland.
The Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against six major currencies, jumped 3.2% last week.
The Australian dollar fell after RBA Governor Glenn Stevens ruled out any quick rise in interest rates.
The Aussie touched a seven week low of 96.15 USc before closing in New York at 96.45, down 2.2% for the week.
Faced with this strength in the greenback, it’s no wonder that commodities went south.
Gold fell 1% Friday as a result, even though trading was thin because of the Thanksgiving holiday and two-month highs in the US dollar.
December Comex gold futures fell $US10.60 to $US1362.40 an ounce.
Other precious metals fell, silver was down almost 3%, palladium 2% and platinum about 1%.
March Comex copper futures fell 0.4% Friday to end at $US3.7625 a pound.
That took the week’s fall to 2.1%.
Oil prices eased Friday on the US dollar’s strength.
Nymex January crude futures fell 10 cents to settle at $US83.76 a barrel.
Not even the continuing tensions in Korea could make buyers enthusiastic (a comment that also applied to gold).
Sugar rose 8% last week, continuing its roller coaster trading pattern.
March raws added 0.3% on Friday in New York to end the holiday shortened week at 28.25 USc a pound.
Last week was the first rise in three weeks.
And cotton fell 9.2% last week in another sell off as traders reacted negatively to China’s move to try and control prices.
New York March cotton dropped 4.83 cents, or 4.1% on Friday in New York to just over $US1.117 a pound.
The all-time high on November 10 was $US1.5195.
Cotton futures are still up 48% so far this year.
US sharemarkets sold off Friday in holiday-reduced trading as worries about Europe’s debt crisis continued to dominate sentiment.
Hopes for a settlement of Ireland’s bailout remain high this weekend, with European finance ministers meeting in Brussels to finalise a deal last night, our time.
The Dow Jones dropped 96 points, or 0.9%; the S&P 500 fell 9 points, or 0.8%; and the Nasdaq lost 9 points, or 0.3%.
For the week, the Dow slipped 1%, and the S&P fell 0.8%, while the Nasdaq was up 0.7%.
Friday’s fall partly reversed the Wednesday jump of 150 points on the Dow as US markets went to Thanksgiving in a positive mood.
But the increasing worry that once Ireland was fixed up, Portugal and maybe Spain would be next to be bailed out, weighed on market thinking.
But the light holiday trading volumes meant the negative tone may have been accentuated.
Volumes were over 30% lower than a week earlier.
European stocks posted losses. Britain’s FTSE 100 ended 0.5% lower, the DAX in Germany dropped 0.5%, and France’s CAC 40 dipped by 0.8%.
The Stoxx 600 Index fell 1.1% last week, the biggest weekly drop since September.
It’s still up 15% for the year though.
Asian markets also ended lower. The Shanghai Composite slipped 0.9% on Friday, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped 0.8% and Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.4% on the day.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index shed 2.1% in value last week, driven by the outbreak in hostilities in Korea.
The South Korean market lost 2%, Hong Kong shed 3.1%, Shanghai lost 0.6% and the ASX/200 in Australia lost 0.7%
That was after the local market ended Friday with a small gain of 4.9% for the ASX/200 and 6.9 points for the ALL Ords.
