17/12/2012 (Borneo Post) - The HSBC Holdings Plc reported its China’s purchasing manager index at 50.9 in December and higher than prior month.

The US FOMC statement re­leased on last Thursday said policymakers would ensure the continuity of US$45 billion month­ly stimuli in purchasing housing debts from January onwards.

Unfortunately, Gold prices plunged below 1,700 benchmarks despite weaker dollar has man­aged to support higher crude demands.

WTI Crude prices bounced off from 85.21 grounds and crawled slowly inversely to weaker dollar last week. We reckon the market may bottom out soon as long as the trend does not penetrate below 85.00 supports.

As tension rises in Syria and Egypt separately, the market may begin to strengthen from lesser supply in coming weeks.

Moving forward, we expect the trend will move from 85.00 to 89.00 ranges amid gradual consolidation. Gold prices fell off 1,723 regions after the FOMC meeting released its statement of new stimulus in January.

Basically, investors are still wary of January’s fiscal cliff as President Obama has not reached an agreement with the Republi­can’s speaker in budget talk.

This week, we foresee the mar­ket may trade tightly from 1,685 to 1,705 ranges as bargain-hunting will rise at 1,680 levels. It will take more effort for US policymakers to hammer the dollar value in order to lift the yellow metal back to above 1,720 levels which could only realise in early January.

Crude Palm Oil Futures (FCPO) on Bursa Derivatives remains bearish and traded lower through­out the week.

The continual weak sentiment is mainly due to increasing stock supplies and lesser overseas demand. The February contract closed at 2,276 with approximately 44,000 contracts on Friday.

The week, we foresee the market will continue to move lower to 2,180 areas if bears breach 2,220 supports.

However, look out for bargain-hunting that may reverse the mar­ket price back to 2,400 regions.