Commodities: Brent gains on trade hopes, drop in US rig count
Energy and base metals moved higher at the end of the week on the back of positive-sounding news around the US-China trade talks and as more details emerged regarding the first round of talks between Beijing and Washington at the beginning of January.
Against that backdrop, Brent crude oil futures added 2.55% to stand at $62.74 a barrel on the ICE.
Further buoying Brent in afternoon trading, US oilfield services giant Baker Hughes reported a large drop of 21 in the number of onshore oil rigs operating in the States during the week ending on 18 January.
In parallel, heating oil futures on the NYMEX were up by 1.60% to $1.9145/MMBtu, alongside a gain of 1.26% to $1.4480 a gallon on the gasoline contract for February.
But there was perhaps more moving markets in the background, with analysts at RBC noting remarks from US State Department Special Envoy for Iran, Brian Hook, that th US wa snot looking to grant any additional exemptions from tariffs in May.
Hook was reportedly speaking at the Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi.
"We recently highlighted weak gasoline fundamentals as the biggest downside risk to the global oil market this year, and reports this week of a US gasoline shipment to Australia is a red flag signaling domestic saturation," they added.
Meanwhile, three-month LME copper futures rose from $6,010 per metric tonne at the open, finishing the day at $6,052 per tonne.
February gold on COMEX on the other hand was dropping by 0.81% to $1,281.80/oz., with traders at Sucden Financial referencing the improved risk appetite as the key factor driving the retreat.
Soft commodities meanwhile were little changed and mostly higher, although ICE traded cocoa for March delivery was giving back 1.20% to $2,307 pr metric tonne.