Commodities: Gold continues to slip lower

Commodities were under slight pressure, with weakness and copper and gold the chief culprits despite a raft of largely in line data on Chinese industrial production and fixed asset investment.

March 2017 copper futures on COMEX slipped 0.86% to $2.5965 a pound, while gold futures for next month delivery lost 0.98% to close at $1,161.90/oz..

Silver futures were also down, retreating 1.21% to $16.98/oz..

Nevertheless, the US dollar spot index was in fact little changed, rising by just 0.11% to 101.03.

In parallel, Bloomberg´s commodity index was off by 0.29% to 87.92.

Crude oil futures dipped following the previous session´s large gains, with the February 2017 Brent contract off by 0.22% to $55.57 a barrel.

Natural gas futures were again down, losing 1.20% to $3.47/MMBtu.

Out among soft commodities, on ICE cocoa futures for delivery in March 2017 were rising 2.19% to $2,289 per metric tonne, while live cattle futures on the CME were nudging higher by 0.91% to $1.1398a pound.