Commodities: WTI moves higher despite small rise in US oil rig count

At the closing bell, the Bloomberg commodity index was ahead by 0.25% to 84.01, at roughly a two-month low, alongside a 0.11% advance for the US dollar spot index to 93.90.

Strength in energy futures buoyed the complex at the end of the week, despite survey data revealing another small increase in the US oil rig count.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for delivery in January rose 1.18% to finish at $57.36 a barrel on NYMEX, alongside similar-sized gains for natural gas and heating oil.

According to consultancy Baker Hughes, two more oil rigs were added in the States over the past week, to reach 751.

For their part, NYMEX January natural gas and heating oil futures added 0.33% and 1.68%, respectively, to end the day at $2.77/MMBtu and $1.9288 a gallon.

Heading lower, the February 2018 gold contract on COMEX gave back 0.38% to $1,248.40/oz. - a near four-month low - as the Greenback continued to draw a bid.

Spot platinum also lost some ground, erasing 0.62% to change hands at $888.28/oz..

Meanwhile, copper edged higher on COMEX by 0.47% to $2.9785 a pound, on the back of much stronger-than-expected Chinese foreign trade numbers for November.

Soft commodity futures were mixed, with March 2018 CBoT wheat losing 0.59% to $4.19 a bushel and the ICE cotton#2 contract losing 0.69% to $0.7372 a pound.

Moving higher, corn on CBoT gained 0.36% to £3.5275 a bushel.