Market overview from globalCoal for December 29

As per yesterday the coal market fell once again, largely on the back of a softer energy complex combined with a stronger US$ which itself benefited from disappointing sales of Italian bonds. In seasonally thin trading, the financial coal market fell by around $1.00 on the benchmark Cal 12 contracts across the three main indices. The physical market was also quiet although an index qualifying trade was concluded in the DES ARA hub at a level $0.50 higher than previous trade, somewhat bucking paper's direction. Meanwhile, front-month Brent crude traded down $0.50 to end the day at ~$107.00/bbl.

A quiet day for the Asian coal market as market participants are mainly absent for the holiday period. The quiet trading session is largely attributed to a continued lack of demand for higher CV type materials and the tight supply situation out of Newcastle. As prices continue to fall for sub bituminous coals, Chinese interest for longer dated deals rallied around the market today, with several indications by buyers for Q2'12 deliveries. (*)

globalCoal trades this week

	Product	Expiry	Price	Volume	Origin	Delivery Point	EFP
28/12/2011	Phys RB1	Feb'12	$106.40	50000			EFP
29/12/2011	Phys ARA (DES)	Feb'12	$113.00	50000	ACPRS	Ams/Rot	EFP