Commodities: Chinese data knocks copper lower

Energy futures buoyed the commodity space on Friday, even as weakish data from around the globe weighed on the price of most industrial metals.

Front month Brent crude oil futures were standing 1.2% taller at $46.61 per barrel on the ICE as of 18:15 BST.

The leg-up in oil came despite the release of the latest survey data from Baker Hughes showing that US drillers added 17 rigs to 481 in the week ending on 12 August.

Bloomberg's commodity index edged higher by 0.1% to 84.06.

Three-month LME-traded copper futures on the other hand were side-swiped by the release of weaker-than-expected data out of the People's Republic of China, particularly that concerning the outlook for property investment, ending the sesion down by 1.2% at $4,787 per metric tonne.

Similarly-dated nickel futures were also lower, falling 2.9% to $10,462.50, while those for zinc came off by 1.2% to $2,251.00.

"Last week, China posted its latest data on July property activity, a crucial sector for copper demand. Although a cursory glance shows strong momentum, especially in prices, a deeper look shows warning signs from stock movement and consumer leverage. In addition, sales, new started areas and developer loans growth slowed markedly in the past two months, indicating a possible slowdown of property-related commodities demand in the coming 6-8 months," Barclays Research's commodity team led by Kevin Norrish said in a research note sent to clients.