Commodities: Oil futures slide but gold holds firm

Oil futures fell into negative territory during Thursday afternoon trading, while gold futures extended gains for much of the session.

At 1727 GMT, as conflicting market chatter about possible coordinated oil production cuts between OPEC and non-OPEC producers continued, headline futures contracts slipped into the red. The Brent front-month oil futures contract was down 1.11% or 39 cents to $34.65 per barrel, while WTI was down 0.37% or 12 cents to $32.16 per barrel.

Jasper Lawler, analyst at CMC Markets, said, “Oil markets were volatile as traders pushed the price wildly between gains and losses. There is a residual bearishness in oil markets because of the oversupply demonstrated by the weekly US inventories build but a possible top in the dollar, in which crude contracts are priced could mean we’ve seen the low in oil.”

Headline base metal futures were largely in positive territory on the London Metal Exchange at 1635 GMT. Three-month futures contracts of copper (up 2.0%), nickel (up 0.7%), tin (up 0.9%) and zinc (up 2.6%) headed higher.

Precious metals saw safe haven demand uptick yet again. On the COMEX, the front-month gold futures contract was up 1.19% or $13.60 to $1,154.90 an ounce, while spot gold was 1.15% or $13.12 higher at $1,155.75 an ounce. COMEX silver rose 0.89% or 13 cents to $14.87 an ounce, while spot platinum rose 2.61% or $22.95 to $902.55 an ounce.

Liz Grant, senior account executive at Sucden Financial, said, “The morning session saw steady gains across the metals complex with zinc challenging the $1,725 resistance area and lead up through $1,800 to $1,830.

“Aluminium pushed ahead to $1,545 and tin was back above $15k. Nickel was quiet by comparison, trading either side of 8500. By lunchtime in London, with the USD/EUR down at $1.1240, copper had broken up through $4,700 to $4,720. Gold put in a stellar performance trading up to $1156 with silver edging towards $15 but at these levels gold is moving into "overbought" territory.”

Finally, agricultural commodity futures were firmly in negative territory. CBOT corn (down 0.47%), wheat (down 1.15%), ICE cotton (down 0.94%) and cocoa (down 2.43%) futures headed lower in early trading calls stateside.