· Bitcoin rallies above $30,000 for first time after advancing over 300% in 2020
Digital currency Bitcoin extended its record-smashing rally on Saturday, beginning the year with a surge over $30,000 for the first time, with ever more traders and investors betting that it is on its way to becoming a mainstream payment method.
The price of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency traded as high as $33,099 on Saturday, with almost all other markets closed over the first weekend in 2021. It was last up about 12% at $32,883.
Bitcoin advanced more than 300% in 2020, and with the latest leg higher has added more than 50% since crossing $20,000 just two weeks ago.
The blockchain currency has only been around for a decade or so, and in 2020 it has seen demand grow from larger U.S. investors, attracted by its perceived inflation-hedging qualities and potential for quick gains, as well as expectations it would become a mainstream payments method.
Investors said limited supply of bitcoin — produced by so-called “mining” computers that validate blocks of transactions by competing to solve mathematical puzzles — has helped power upward moves over recent days.
Some also saw it as a safe-haven play during the Covid-19 pandemic, akin to gold.
· COVID-19 proof risk sentiment drags dollar near 2018 lows
The U.S. dollar held near mid-2018 lows on Monday as bullish sentiment across global markets prompted investors to buy riskier currencies such as the Chinese yuan, despite a resurgent pandemic.
Low U.S. interest rates, massive U.S. budget and trade deficits and a belief that rebounding world trade will drive non-dollar currencies higher have set the dollar on a downward course.
The dollar index posted its first annual loss since 2017 last year. It has fallen roughly 13% from a three-year peak at the height of the pandemic panic in March.
It was last 0.14% weaker at 89.640 and not far above last week’s more than two-and-a-half-year low of 89.515.
Manufacturing activity expanded in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, according to PMI surveys, the latest indication that manufacturers in the region continue to recover from the damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
The Chinese yuan rose over 0.9% to a 30-month high of 6.4693 per dollar.
Chinese factory activity continued to accelerate in December, though the PMI missed forecasts at 53.0.
The safe-haven yen rose 0.4% to 102.90 per dollar, and looked to test resistance at 102.55, after Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said his government was mulling a state of emergency in Tokyo as coronavirus cases rise.
The softening dollar boosted commodity prices and pushed bitcoin as well as several Asian currencies to milestone highs.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars each gained close to 0.4% to hold just below multi-year peaks. [AUD/]
The euro, which had dipped on New Year’s Eve profit-taking, rose 0.4% to $1.2270 while traders waited for a fresh batch of economic indicators throughout the region.
Sterling, still boosted by Britain’s trade deal with the European Union, gained to $1.3678, levels last seen in early 2018.
Investors are now focused on a runoff election in the U.S. state of Georgia on Tuesday that will determine control of the Senate.
Bitcoin on Monday was off Sunday’s record high of $34,800 at $32,340. An enormous rally has carried it up 800% since March as institutional investors seem to have turned buyers.
· U.S. could ramp up slow Covid vaccine rollout by giving two half volume doses of Moderna shot, Slaoui says
The head of the federal government’s Covid-19 vaccine program said Sunday that health officials are exploring the idea of giving a major group of Americans half volume doses of one vaccine to accelerate the rollout.
Moncef Slaoui, the head of Operation Warp Speed, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that one way to speed up immunizations against Covid-19 was to give two half-volume doses of the Moderna vaccine to some individuals.
“We know that for the Moderna vaccine giving half the dose for people between the ages of 18 to 55 — two doses, half the dose, which means exactly achieving the objective of immunizing double the number of people with the doses we have — we know it induces identical immune response to the 100 microgram dose,” Slaoui said.
· U.S. air travel hits pandemic high over New Year’s holiday amid surging Covid outbreak
U.S. air travel hit its highest level on Saturday since mid-March, raising fears that the spike in holiday travel will result in another surge in Covid-19 cases and deaths in upcoming weeks.
· UK needs tougher restrictions to tackle coronavirus, health minister says
· Japan PM says government will consider state of emergency for Tokyo area
Japan said on Monday it would consider declaring a state of emergency for the Greater Tokyo metropolitan area as coronavirus cases climb, casting fresh doubt over whether it can push ahead with the Olympics and keep economic damage to a minimum.
The emergency declaration would mark a reversal for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who has resisted any such drastic steps despite criticism that the government was acting too slowly.
Japan saw a record 4,520 new cases on Dec. 31, prompting the capital, Tokyo, and three neighbouring prefectures to seek an emergency declaration from the national government. There were 3,158 new cases on Sunday, according to public broadcaster NHK; Tokyo and its environs accounted for about half of them.
· Singapore will consider relaxing curbs for vaccinated travellers -govt official
· Covid pandemic sends Singapore’s economy to its worst ever recession in 2020
Singapore’s economy contracted by less than expected in 2020 as activity picked up further in the fourth quarter following the easing of Covid-related restrictions, advance estimates by the Ministry of Trade and Industry showed on Monday.
The Southeast Asian economy contracted by 5.8% in 2020 compared with the previous year, said the ministry. That’s better than the official forecast for an annual contraction of between 6% and 6.5%.
In the final quarter of last year, the Singapore economy shrank 3.8% compared with a year ago — an improvement from the revised 5.6% year-over-year contraction in the third quarter, the ministry said.
On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted basis, Singapore’s gross domestic product or GDP grew 2.1% in the fourth quarter — slowing from 9.5% growth in the previous three months, it added.
Here’s how the different sectors performed in the fourth quarter, according to the official estimates:
Goods-producing industries grew 3.3% compared with the previous year, with manufacturing expanding by 9.5% year over year;
The construction sector recorded its fourth-straight quarter of contraction, but the 28.5% year-on-year contraction was better than the previous quarter’s;
Services-producing industries also continued to shrink for the fourth-straight quarter, recording a 6.8% year-on-year contraction.
The advance estimates for the fourth quarter are largely based on data from October and November. The trade and industry ministry will release an update to the data in February.
· China scores an EU investment deal before Biden takes office — and it wants to do more
China and the European Commission announced Wednesday that they finished talks on a “Comprehensive Agreement on Investment” which officials said will give each region’s businesses greater access to the other’s market.
The deal was rushed into place and comes before Joe Biden is sworn in as U.S. president. In contrast to the Trump presidency, Biden’s administration is widely expected to work alongside allies such as the EU to manage relations with China.
At a late-night press conference on Wednesday, a China Ministry of Commerce spokesman told reporters that China hopes for deals with other countries.
· China says opposes U.S. politicizing trade issues on U.S. delisting of Chinese telcos
· Trump to attend D.C. protests against Congress certifying Biden victory
President Donald Trump on Sunday said he will attend protests in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, the day Congress certifies Electoral College votes and declares President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
The congressional joint session to count electoral votes is a routine procedure and marks the final step in reaffirming Biden as the winner.
· Pence welcomes GOP effort to delay certification of Biden victory as other Republicans oppose it
The GOP senators and senators-elect will push to delay the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump during a formal joint session of Congress on Wednesday.
The senators, led by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, cited allegations of fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election for which they provided no evidence and which have been rejected repeatedly by courts around the country.
The effort, the latest among dozens of Republican attempts to overturn Trump’s loss, is unlikely to alter the Electoral College tally, which Biden won 306-232.
While Republicans control the 100-member Senate, Democrats hold a majority of the House of Representatives, making it all-but-impossible for an objection to have a realistic chance of succeeding.
· Oil prices touch multi-month highs as OPEC+ expected to cap output
Oil prices touched multi-month highs on Monday on expectations that OPEC and allied producers may cap output at current levels in February as the coronavirus pandemic keeps worries about first-half demand elevated.
Prices rose in line with broader financial markets with Brent crude futures reaching $53.17 a barrel, the highest since March 2020. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude touched $49.71 a barrel, the highest since February 2020.
March Brent crude futures were at $52.94 a barrel, up $1.14 or 2.2%, by 0736 GMT while February WTI crude futures rose 98 cents, or 2%, to $49.50 a barrel.
Broader macro momentum trends including a weaker dollar and investors positioning for a recovery in the oil sector this year could support oil prices, Energy Aspects analyst Virendra Chauhan said.
Mohammad Barkindo, Secretary General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said on Sunday that while crude demand is expected to rise by 5.9 million barrels per day (bpd) to 95.9 million bpd this year, the group sees plenty of downside demand risks in the first half of 2021.
· Iran plans 20% uranium enrichment ‘as soon as possible’
Iran said Saturday it plans to enrich uranium up to 20% at its underground Fordo nuclear facility “as soon as possible,” pushing its program a technical step away from weapons-grade levels as it increases pressure on the West over the tattered atomic deal.
The move comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S. in the waning days of the administration of President Donald Trump, who unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal in 2018.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters
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