Commodities: WTI jumps on weekly data showing dip in number of US oil rigs

Commodities received an unexpected boost from a weaker dollar at the end of the week, even in the face of a far larger than expected increase in the number of US non-farm payrolls.

The US dollar spot index dipped 0.1% to 90.09, alongside a 0.42% rise in the Bloomberg Commodity Index to 87.96 as a weak 0.1% month-on-month print for US average weekly earnings in February's monthly jobs report undercut the Greenback, despite a bumper 313,000 increase in US non-farm payrolls (consensus: 195,000).

Energy fared best, with West Texas Intermediate jumping 3.19% to $62.04 a barrel on the NYMEX, helped by data showing a drop in the number of oil rigs in operation during the latest week.

According to Baker Hughes, the US oil rig count declined by four during the week ending on 9 March to hit 796.

The rest of the energy complex saw similarly strong gains, with the exception April 2018 natural gas, which erased 0.87% to $2.73/MMBtu.

Base metals were also wanted on the other side of the Atlantic, with May 2018 copper futures on COMEX adding 1.85% to trade at $3.1360 per pound.

Gold futures on the other hand barely managed to edge higher, clambering into the black at the end of the session to end up by 0.17% to $1,324/oz..

Agricultural commodities on the other hand were softer, led by a 2.0% down-draft in May 2018 wheat futures on the CBoT to $4.8925 a bushel.

Cocoa and cotton futures on the ICE were also trading under water, with the former losing 1.12% to $2,465 per metric tonne.