Commodities: Oil and copper retreat, natural gas jumps

Commodity prices were weighed down by a bounce in the US dollar and reports that LME copper stockpiles were continuing to build-up.

The energy complex was one of the weakest areas of the market, with almost all futures lower on the day and West Texas Intermediate July 2016 futures losing 1.31% to $50.56 per barrel on the NYMEX.

Similarly-dated natural gas futures on the other hand rocketed 6.04% to $2.62/MMbtu after the Department of Energy reported that domestic supplies of natural gas increased by 65bn cubic feet over the week ending on 3 June, below the 80bn which analysts polled by Platts had forecast.

Copper futures on COMEX ended the New York session lower by 1.09% at $2.0390/lb..

In London trading, three-month LME copper had surrendered 1.8% to end at $4,505 a metric tonne.

In a research note sent to clients and dated 7 June, analysts at Macquarie highlighted how inventories had jumped 27.6% in two days to 196.2kt. The FT reported on Thursday that inventories had reached 213,225 tonnes that same day, following another 9,000 tonne increase.

"Whatever the motivation, copper stocks have gained 27.6% in just two days, to 196.2kt, considerably easing the previously tight LME forward curve," the Australian broker said.

Strength in gold was conspicuous, given the backdrop of a rising US dollar.

To take note of, billionaire investor George Soros had recently taken a more 'active' role at his family office after growing increasingly concerned regarding the outlook for the world's economy and the risk of large near-term market risks, according to Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal.

His strategy apparently included buying gold and shares of gold miners.

August 2016 COMEX-traded futures were up by 0.82% to $1,272,70/oz while those for silver advanced 1.67% to $17.27/oz.

CBOT-traded corn futures retreated 1.10% to $4.2650 per bushel while those for wheat lost 1.78% to $5.1025 per bushel.

The Bloomberg commodity index finished the day off by 0.07% to 89.88, alongside a 0.40% bounce in the greenback to 93.97.