Commodities: Crude firms on new Iran sanctions as copper ebbs on China rate hike

Crude-oil futures are firming moderately on Friday afternoon as the US imposed fresh sanctions on Iran for testing its ballistic missile programme.

Nymex-listed West Texas Intermediate crude was up 0.64% to $53.88 a barrel, with Intercontinental Exchange-traded Brent up 0.65% to $56.93 a barrel.

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said prices for the black liquid had been surprisingly unmoved, but the US imposed new sanctions sparked a rise.

US' Treasury Department has published a list of 13 individuals and 12 entities that faced new sanctions, although Iran has said earlier that it would be unmoved by threats.

Hewson continued that oil prices still looked set to finish the week higher.

This was "despite the fact that US rig counts remain at multi-month highs and are expected to keep rising," he opined.

SwissQuote added that WTI crude was encountering resistance at $54.32 a barrel.

"Yet, a correction in the near-term towards $49.61 is possible in case support at $50.71 is broken. The black commodity needs to push higher to confirm deeper buying pressures," it said.

Meantime, On Comex, gold was down 0.11% to $1218.1 an ounce, with silver up 0.03% to $17.44 an ounce and copper down 1.58% to 264.3 cents a pound.

"Gold prices have struggled to move higher despite today’s weak US wages numbers, though that might have something to do with the fact that they are already near two month highs," Hewson said in a statement.

Three-month industrial copper, zinc and tin traded on London Metals Exchange were lower, but aluminum was firming.

"Copper and iron ore prices have come under pressure today after this morning's surprise tightening of monetary policy by Chinese authorities," said Hewson.

"Copper in particular is on course to close lower for the third day in succession, after hitting two-month highs earlier this week."

China's central bank hiked interest rates on Friday, which underscored a move towards tighter policy aimed at deflating asset bubbles and reducing long-term financial risk.

Finally, among agriculturals, Chicago Board of Trade-priced corn was down 0.41% to $366 cents a bushel, while wehat fell 0.17% to 433.75 cents a bushel.

ICE-quoted cocoa fell 0.72% to $2069 a MT, and cotton No.2 faded 0.36% to 76.63 cents a pound. Live cattle was up 0.56% to fetch 116.13 cents a pound.