Commodities: Crude futures firm as market digests US, UK inflation data

Crude futures are firmly higher on Tuesday afternoon against a backcloth of consumer-price index (CPI) inflation gauges for September that are in-line for the US and ahead-of-expectations for the UK.

At about 14:58 BST, Nymex-quoted West Texas Intermediate crude was up 0.96% to $50.42 a barrel, while Intercontinental Exchange-traded Brent firmed 0.76% to $51.91 a barrel.

WTI oil has failed again to retest strong resistance given at $51.67, said SwissQuote in a research note, adding support was presently at about $49.15 a barrel.

"Short-term bearish positions should be loaded up at this level as buying pressures is fading," SwissQuote said. "In the long-term, crude oil is now recovering from its sharp decline and the signs of recovery are now strong."

Meantime, Accendo Markets' head of research, Mike van Dulken, added that Brent was holding above $51 a barrel thanks to northbound UK equities, US Federal Reserve rate-hike uncertainty and UK inflation data.

UK's consumer-price index (CPI) rose an annualised 1.0% in September, after a 0.6% gain in August. A rise of 0.9% was expected. US CPI inflation for September jumped 1.5% year-on-year, in line with views and from an August rise of 1.1%.

Meantime, Comex-priced gold was up 0.16% to $1258.6 an ounce at about 14:58 BST, with silver rising 0.52% to $17.57 an ounce and copper adding 0.24% to 211.20 cents a pound.

Among three-months industrial metals prices on London Metals Exchange, copper was flat at $4675 a MT, zinc was up 0.71% to $2274 a MT, tin was down 0.23% to $19,405 a MT and aluminum was down 0.87% to $1660.5 a MT.

Chicago Board of Trade-quoted corn rose 0.14% to 354.5 cents a bushel, while wheat was down 0.47% to 421.75 cents a bushel.

ICE-priced cocoa was flat at $2690 a MT and cotton No.2 was down 0.32% to 70.96 cents a pound. Live cattle was up 0.13% to 99.13 cents a pound.