Reuters: US Dollar Report: GLOBAL MARKETS-Risk assets hit as China, US data stirs recovery worry

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GLOBAL MARKETS-Risk assets hit as China, US data stirs recovery worry Apr 15th 2013, 07:49 Mon Apr 15, 2013 3:49am EDT * China Q1 GDP, industrial output undershoot forecasts * Gold, silver slump, lead declines in broader risk markets * Crude futures shed 2 pct as demand outlook dims * European shares steady, euro slips 0.3 percent By Marc Jones LONDON, April 15 (Reuters) - Commodities led a sharp, broad decline in risk assets on Monday as weaker-than-expected Chinese data added to concerns raised by U.S. numbers about the global economic outlook. Oil fell towards $100 a barrel, copper dropped to its lowest level in eight months, while commodity-linked currencies including the Aussie and Kiwi dollars were also hit hard. China's recovery unexpectedly stumbled in the first three months of 2013, as it reported its annual growth rate eased to 7.7 percent from 7.9 percent in the final quarter of last year. Economists had forecast 8 percent growth. Industrial output in March also undershot expectations and added to investor sensitivity after a negative reading of U.S. consumer sentiment, soft retail sales, plus rekindled worries in the euro zone late last week. Brent crude futures dropped more than $2 to below $101 a barrel for the first since July last year as the Chinese data stirred recovery fears before edging up to $101.67 by 0715 GMT. "The China data is going to have a major impact on an already weak commodity market," said Jonathan Barratt, chief executive of commodity research firm BarrattBulletin. "Generally the trend for commodities remains weak at the moment, given that China is not performing the way we've always wanted it to perform, which suggests (prices are) coming under pressure." Asian shares outside Japan had reacted with a modest 0.8 percent fall but European equity markets started the week steady as small gains by Paris's CAC-40 and Frankfurt's DAX helped offset a slightly weaker FTSE 100 in London. Meanwhile, gold slumped to a two-year low as investors continued to dump bullion on concerns about central bank sales and shifting sentiment towards precious metals. Spot gold fell as far as $1,427.14 an ounce to its lowest since April 2011, and was last down 2 percent at $1,452. Spot silver fell to its lowest since November 2010 of $24.32 an ounce and was last at $24.52, down 4.7 percent on the day. In the currency market, last week's weak U.S. data continued to weigh on the dollar, sending it as low as 97.55 yen before it recovered some ground to 98.11 yen. The euro also started the week on the back foot as it fell 0.3 percent to $1.3090. It was the commodity-attunded Aussie and Kiwi dollars that saw the biggest impact from the Chinese data, however. The Kiwi slumped 1.0 percent to $0.8499, stopping short of support at $0.8480 while the Australian dollar slipped further away from a three-month high of $1.0583 marked on Thursday to $1.0434. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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