Headline News 03.02.11

US & GLOBAL 
• Bursa saham AS gagal melanjutkan penguatannya berkaitan dengan faktor teknikal yang kemudian menahan berlanjutnya penguatan bursa,
investor juga cenderung enggan mengambil posisi besar menyambut rilis data sektor ketenagakerjaan AS akhir pekan ini. Investor terus mengawasi
perkembangan politik di Mesir dan kekhawatiran akan menyebarnya ke negara‐negara lain di kawasan Timur‐Tengah dan Afrika telah menekan
laju bursa ekuitas global dalam beberapa sesi terakhir. Indeks Dow Jones <. DJI> naik 0,02% ke 12,041.97, indeks S&P500 <SPX.> anjlok 0,27% ke
1,304.03 dan Nasdaq <. IXIC> turun 0,04% ke 2,750.16.
 
• Euro yang sempat menembus level tertinggi dalam 2‐1/2‐bulan terakhir terhadap dollar AS, ditutup lebih rendah 0.2% ke 1.3804 menyusul naiknya
eskalasi kerusuhan di Mesir, meskipun proyeksi uptrend pada mata uang tunggal Uni‐Eropa tersebut masih bertahan seiring ekspektasi tingginya
inflasi kawasan. Euro sempat menguat ke level 1,3862 yang merupakan level tertinggi sejak November, sebelum beringsut melemah tertekan
pernyataan seorang pejabat pemerintah Jerman yang mengatakan, Berlin akan menentang kemungkinan pembelian obligasi negara‐negara yang
bermasalah oleh dana penyelamatan Uni‐Eropa. Badai musim dingin yang ekstrim di kawasan Midwest dan Northeast AS juga disebut sebagai
faktor yang menurunkan volume perdagangan, sementara itu bentrokan di Mesir antara pendukung dan penentang Presiden Hosni Mubarak
menaikkan ketidakpastian pada kondisi pasar. Dollar AS mencatat keuntungan tipis terhadap mata uang utama dunia setelah data ADP
Employment untuk Januari menunjukkan adanya pertambahan 187.000 tenaga kerja sektor swasta yang melebihi perkiraan analis sebelumnya.
Dollar AS tercatat menguat 0,3% ke 81,56 yen <JPY=> dan naik 0,5% terhadap Swiss franc ke 0,9398 franc <CHF=>.
 
• Harga emas turun 0,5% menyusul laporan ADP Employment yang menggembirakan dan kondisi politik Timur‐Tengah yang relatif stabil yang
kemudian mengalihkan minat investor pada aset beresiko tinggi dan sebaliknya menurunkan permintaan aset safe haven. Harga spot emas <XAU=>
turun 0,5% menjadi 1,334.40 USD per ounce.
 
• Harga minyak dunia naik pada Rabu 02 Februari karena bertahannya kekhawatiran bahwa pergolakan di Mesir bisa menyebar ke negara lain di
kawasan Timur Tengah dan Afrika Utara, yang merupakan sumber dari 1/2 pasokan minyak mentah dunia. Harga minyak mentar AS untuk
pengiriman Maret <CLH1> ditutup menguat 9sen lebih tinggi ke 90,86 USD per barel, sementara harga minyak mentah ICE Brent untuk pengiriman
Maret <LCOH1> menguat 60 sen ke 102,34 USD per barel.

Brent crude approaches $103 as Egypt violence escalates

SINGAPORE | Wed Feb 2, 2011 9:59pm EST

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Brent crude approached $103 on Thursday after violent clashes in Egypt raised the prospect of further unrest across the Middle East, overshadowing the bearish effect of soaring gasoline inventories in top consumer the United States.

ICE Brent crude for March rose as much as 29 cents to $102.63 a barrel, the highest intraday price since September 29, 2008, and was up 22 cents at $102.56 at 0245 GMT. U.S. crude for March rose 37 cents to $91.23.

"The chance of contagion to a country that is systemically important for oil markets still remains relatively low, but it's the combination of that possibility and the importance of oil flows from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal that is building a premium" into prices, said Ben Westmore, commodities economist at National Australia Bank.
Backers of President Hosni Mubarak, throwing petrol bombs, wielding sticks and charging on camels and horses, attacked protesters in Cairo on Wednesday after the army told reformists demanding the president quit to go home.
The crisis has also alarmed western governments who have regarded Mubarak as a bulwark of stability in a volatile region, and has raised the prospect of unrest spreading across the Middle East and North Africa, which combined produce more than a third of the world's oil supplies.

The appearance of Mubarak supporters on Cairo's streets and their clashes with protesters -- after days of relatively calm demonstrations -- complicated U.S. calculations for an orderly transition of power in Egypt.
So far, the unrest in Egypt has not affected traffic on the Suez Canal or flows on the Suez-Mediterranean (SUMED) oil pipeline. Egypt controls both the canal and the duct, which together moved over 2 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and oil products in 2009, the latest data available.

"Once the tensions there begin to moderate, then you will have the market focusing again on fundamentals. We still have this abundant supply, so there is definitely more downside than upside," Westmore added.
U.S. crude inventories rose 2.59 million barrels to 343.16 million barrels in the week to January 28, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, while stockpiles of gasoline surged by 6.15 million barrels to 236.23 million barrels, the highest level since 1993. <EIA/S>
Inventories at the key Cushing, Oklahoma terminal rose 667,000 barrels to 38.33 million barrels, a record. Cushing in PADD 2 is the delivery point for the New York Mercantile Exchange's benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude futures.
The glut is depressing the price of WTI relative to Brent, with the front-month contract of the U.S. benchmark more than $11 below the European marker. The spread last week ballooned to a near-record $12.50 a barrel.

A massive winter storm, meanwhile, brought parts of the U.S. Midwest to a standstill and delivered another wintry blow to the Northeast, the biggest market for heating oil.
The U.S. March heating oil contract settled 2.37 cents higher at $2.7807 a gallon, the highest for a front-month heating contract since October 2008. It extended gains on Thursday to $2.7868 a gallon.
In other markets, world shares struggled to eke out more gains on Wednesday as wariness over escalating violence in Egypt and rising oil prices muted optimism over the latest signs of a sustained global economic recovery.

The price of copper, a key industrial metal, hit a fresh record high Thursday on expectations of strong global demand.
The euro fell from a 2-1/2-month high against the dollar on Wednesday as tensions in Egypt escalated, though the euro zone single currency's uptrend stayed intact given signs of rising inflation in that area.

 Traders also awaited data on U.S. non-farm payrolls for January due on Friday as an indication for the state of the economy and energy demand.The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is likely to increase output by "more rather than less" in response to tensions in the Middle East, the chief economist of oil major BP (BP.L) told Reuters Insider Television on Wednesday.