* Jan ARA trades at $111.25
* Coal trade remains thin
LONDON Dec 12 (Reuters) – Physical prompt coal prices
slipped again on Monday as coal was pulled lower with oil, the
euro, gold and equities as investors worried a European deal on
closer fiscal union would not solve its debt crisis and might
deepen a regional slowdown.
Brent crude oil fell below $108 a barrel, the euro, stocks
and gold tumbled while the dollar and German bund futures, seen
as a safer investor haven, rose.
Coal trading activity has been even thinner than usual this
month – the annual pre-holidays slowdown seemed to start in
November, traders and utilities said.
“There’s not enough activity in coal right now so it can’t
buck the trend, it’s moving with oil and other markets,” one
utility trader said.
Dark spreads – the profit made from generating power using
coal as fuel – are still very healthy and this could encourage
some more utility buying of coal swaps rather than physical,
traders and utilities said.
Otherwise, a few weeks of extremely thin trading during
which the market will be vulnerable to sudden moves seem likely.
“The market’s mood is inherently bearish because there’s so
little spot trade and there is also a lot of coal being offered
right now with no takers but in general everybody seems to want
to do nothing, last year was very active in December but now
there’s no appetite to trade,” a European trader said.
Continued…
