Commodities: Oil futures slide on Saudi comments, US inventory data

Oil futures stayed above the $40 per barrel mark on Wednesday, but the rally in play from the start of the week fizzled out on dire US crude inventory data and Saudi Arabia ruling out an output cut.

Late in the European session, the US Energy Information Administration reported that the country’s crude inventories increased by 6.6m barrels, bringing the total in storage to 536.5m barrels in the week to 8 April. However, oil production also declined below 9m barrels per day for the first time since late 2014.

Separately, ahead of the approaching crucial talks between OPEC and non-OPEC crude producers scheduled in Doha, Qatar for 17 April, Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi appeared to rule out a crude output cut in an interview with The Al-Hayat newspaper.

When asked about any possible reduction in his country's production, al-Naimi told the paper to "Forget about this topic."

OPEC rival Iran has so far refused to attend the Saudi-backed Doha meet, but Reuters reported that while the Islamic republic’s oil minister would not be attending, a government representative would indeed be dispatched by Tehran in his place.

At 1724 BST, following a volatile session, the Brent June contract was down 0.45% or 20 cents to $44.49 per barrel, while the WTI May contract was 0.15% or $44.49 lower at $42.13 per barrel.

Away from oil markets, precious metals had another dull session. The COMEX front-month gold futures contract was down 1.21% or $15.20 at $1,245.70 an ounce, while spot gold was down 0.83% or $10.41 to $1,245.22 an ounce.

COMEX silver fell 0.10% or two cents to $16.21 an ounce; being the best performing precious metal of the session, while spot platinum fell 0.21% or $2.15 to $998.10 an ounce.

Headline base metal futures rallied for a second successive session on the London Metal Exchange, as trade data showed China’s exports rose 18.7% year-over-year (in Yuan terms) having fallen for the last eight months.

At 1635 GMT, three-month futures contracts of nickel (+2.7%), tin (+2.2%), lead (+1.6%), copper (+2.1%), zinc (+3.7%) and primary aluminium (+2.2%) registered substantial upticks.

Liz Grant, senior account executive at Sucden Financial, said, “The rally in LME metals continued through the overnight Asian session and into the European afternoon. Copper traded up to $4,855 per tonne overnight but in London a ceiling developed at $4,830 area as the US dollar made gains.

“Forward spreads were generally “bid” across the board. Gold and the yen were in retreat as investors took profits.”

Finally, agricultural commodity futures were largely on mixed turf in early US trading. CBOT corn (+2.55%), wheat (+2.10%) and ICE cotton (+0.67%) futures headed higher, while CME Live cattle (-0.57%) and ICE cocoa (-0.30%) contracts headed higher in morning trading calls stateside.