* May S.African trades at $103.25/T
* May S.African bid at $102/T
* Bids/offers seen too far apart to trade
LONDON, March 12 (Reuters) – Prompt physical coal
prices fell again on Monday by around $1.00 a tonne as buyers
pulled back and oil slipped below $125 a barrel.
A May South African cargo traded at $103.25, unchanged from
Friday, but was bid on at $102.00, down over $1.00 from Friday’s
levels.
Despite some continued Indian buying interest for South
African cargoes, the Newcastle and DES ARA markets were
extremely thin.
Oil prices fell by over $1 on Monday, breaking four days of
straight gains, as worries over Middle Eastern oil supply eased
and the focus of investors turned to slowing Chinese and
European economic growth.
Coal is a much newer and illiquid market than oil, and does
not always immediately react to moves in oil prices. Coal tends
to have a delayed reaction to oil’s moves or react to a lesser
degree.
“Oil’s down, the energy complex is weaker so it’s no
surprise coal has come off slightly – except that when oil
prices were steady last week, coal didn’t react,” one European
trader said.
Continued…
