Commodities: Metals mixed after US non-farm payrolls as softs, grains rise

Metals futures were overall mixed on Friday as traders pondered what next in the UK's ongoing Brexit saga, and also the US Federal Reserve's future rates stance after that country's surprisingly strong non-farm payrolls data for June.

At about 16:05 BST, in Comex-listed metals, gold was down 0.53% to $1,354.9 an ounce, while silver added 0.26% to $19.89 an ounce and copper slipped 0.02% to $212.3 a pound.

Three-month copper, aluminium, zinc and tin were all lower on London Metals Exchange.

Today, the US Labor Department said the US economy added 287,000 jobs in June, well above the 180,000 that economists had forecast.

"This afternoon's bumper payrolls report assuaged some concerns about how well the US economy is faring," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

"Earlier this week, gold prices hit a two-year high, but have slipped back since then on the back of some better than expected US economic data," Hewson added.

Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets UK, reckoned the case was building that the Fed would only be able to raise the interest rate once this year, if that.

"We have said that $1,400 (an ounce) mark is a real possibility for gold and we maintain our target," Aslam said in a statement.

In energy futures, also at 16:05 BST, Nymex-quoted West Texas Intermediate was 0.22% to 45.04 a barrel, while Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) traded Brent was off 0.06% to $46.37.

"Oil prices have rebounded from two month lows after last night's sharp sell-off, on reports that Nigerian militants launched new attacks on installations in the Nigeria delta region," said Hewson.

"We're still set to finish the week sharply lower over concerns that the inventory overhang could well take longer to work off at a time when inventories are declining at a much slower rate than anticipated," he said.

Meantime, agricultural futures fared rather better than their metals and energy peers.

In grains, Chicago Board of Trade-quoted Corn was up 2.12% to $349 a bushel, with Wheat up 2.64% to $436.75 a bushel.

Among softs, ICE-priced Cocoa was up 0.32% to $3,120/MT, with Coffee 'C' ahead 1.16% to 143.45 a pound. Cotton No.2 rose 1.3% to $66 a pound. Live Cattle gained 1.01% to $112.93 a pound.