Commodities: Metals and energy eke out small gains as US dollar dips

Commodity prices edged higher on Tuesday, with base metals pacing gains as the Greenback drifted lower ahead of the Federal Reserve's next policy meeting.

In a light day in terms of the flow of economic data, investors' attention was on the mixed reports coming out of the US-China trade talks.

According to Bloomberg, speaking on the condition of anonymity, two people told the newswire that Beijing was pushing back on US demands because as China saw it, whereas it had made some concessions related to intellectual-property rules, Washington had refused to provide guarantees that tariffs on its goods would be lifted.

The Wall Street Journal on the other hand was reporting that the two sides were in the last stages of talks.

Nevertheless, overnight the US Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, told Bloomberg TV that China might triple its purchases of US farm goods as part of any trade agreement.

As of 1839 GMT, the US dollar spot index was drifting lower by 0.15% to 96.3790, alongside a 0.28% jump in the US dollar spot index to 82.10.

Base and precious metals futures were again the strongest segment of the market, with May copper on COMEX adding 0.50% to $2.9235/lb., while April gold was up by 0.42% at $1,307.0/oz..

Gains were also to be seen in the energy space, with ICE-traded Brent for May delivery rising by 0.28% to $67.73 a barrel on the ICE, while May heating oil futures on NYMEX were up by 1.05% to $1.9897 a gallon.