Commodities: Crude futures fall as Opec extends curbs by nine months

Crude futures dived into the red Thursday as Opec extended its output cuts for a further nine months and into March 2018, sparking a quick round of profit taking and disappointing some in the market who wanted more.

At 15:23 BST, Nymex-priced West Texas Intermediate crude was down 0.78% to $50.96 a barrel. Intercontinental Exchange-traded Brent fell 0.65% to $53.61 a barrel.

The black liquid had traded along in positive territory through the morning session, but slumped on widely circulating reports of a nine-month extension and then rebounded a little.

"It seems that, though the pact is exactly what was expected, investors were disappointed that the notoriously inharmonious group failed to bring the cap under the current 1.8m barrel a day limit," said Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex.

"The black stuff has now settled at a more manageable half a percent decline -- a position that is admittedly almost a dollar below its morning peak," he added.

Jasper Lawler, senior market analyst at London Capital Group, said oil traders reacted to a well-telegraphed nine-month extension by taking profits.

"Tellingly oil prices have not fully recovered the highs reached after the supply cuts were announced last November," said Lawler.

"The persistently high US oil production has added scepticism in the market that wasn’t there at the last Opec meeting.

"We see a better than 50/50 chance OPEC pre-announces additional cuts before the next scheduled meeting in November," he concluded.

Meanwhile, at 15:23 BST, on Comex, gold was up 0.25% to $1259.7 an ounce. Silver rose 0.63% to $17.23 an ounce, and copper firmed 0.6% to 259.9 cents a pound.

"Gold is testing support at $1256 following breakdown on account of USD strength," said Henry Croft, research analyst at Accendo Markets.

On London Metals Exchange, three-month industrial metals were generally lower. Zinc fell 0.87%, tin lost 0.61% and copper esed 0.56%. Aluminum, however, rose 0.1%.