Commodities: Brent futures hit one-year high, cocoa down

Russian support for an oil output cut or freeze set the energy patch alight at the start of the week.

In remarks made from the sidelines of the 23rd World Energy Congress, in Istanbul, Russian Federation president Vladimir Putin endorsed OPEC plans for such a deal.

That saw Brent crude futures reverse a more than one per cent loss to trade over three per cent higher at one point during the session.

Front month Brent crude oil futures were up by 2.31% to $53.17 a barrel, having earlier touched the $53.73 mark - their loftiest level since 9 October 2015.

Also in attendance in Turkey was Saudi Arabia's energy minister, Khalid Al-Falih, who said: "it is not unthinkable that we could see $60 [a barrel] by year-end".

Nonetheless, the details of any such agreement had still to be ironed out, with Russia's energy minister saying his country would rather a freeze on productioon rather than a reduction.

Moscow was pumping at a record pace of 11.2m barrels a day of oil thus far in October, according to Bloomberg data.

The Bloomberg Commodity index jumped 1.18% to 86.65 as of 1810 BST even as the US dollar spot index edged higher by 0.26% to 96.88.

Gold futures also brushed off strength in the greenback to bounce back by 0.62% to $1,259.60/oz. on COMEX, while spot platinum slipped 0.45% to $963.65/oz..

Copper was in demand as Chinese investors returned from their week-long National Day holiday amid news that Morgan Stanley had bumped its forecasts for the country's rate of growth for this year and next.

Asia's largest economy was now seen expanding at a 6.7% clip in 2017 versus an earlier forecast of 6.4% from the investment bank.

Morgan Stanley analysts justified their higher-than-consensus forecast on the basis of cyclical momentum, strong fiscal support and better than expected external demand.

Cocoa futures hit new low

Meanwhile, and among soft commodities, volatility was the hallmark of the session, with ICE traded cocoa futures slumping 4.17% to $2,669 per metric tonne - a 52 week low - and live cattle futures down 2.89% to $1.001 a pound.

December 2016 wheat futures on the other hand were gaining 2.03% to $4.0275 a bushel.