Commodities: Saudi pledges deeper oil output cuts
Commodity futures bounced back on Tuesday, helped by improved risk appetite and a commitment from Saudi to reign in crude oil output further.
In remarks to Bloomberg TV, Saudi energy minister, Khalid al-Falih, pledged that the Kingdom would reduce its production of crude to 10.1m barrels a day next month, after producing at a level of 10.2m b/d in January, and maintain that level for six months.
Under the terms of the December deal between the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, Saudi had acquiesced to a reduction to just 10.33m b/d.
OPEC and like-minded countries were driving to reduce inventory levels in consumer countries below their five-year average, Falih reportedly added.
Base metals prices on the LME meanwhile were mixed, although three-month copper futures rose from $5,989 per metric at the session open to trade at $6,050 by the close.
In parallel, gold futures on COMEX added 0.56% to reach $1,316.60/oz..
Soft commodity prices were also mixed, with the March corn and wheat contracts on the Chicago Board of Trade down by 0.66% and 1.06%, respectively, to $3.7725 and $5.1325 a bushel.
Similarly-dated ICE traded cocoa meantime was retreating by 1.56% to $2,215 per metric tonne, even as CME live cattle and cotton #2 futures put in gains of 0.33% and 0.41% to $1.2780/lb. and $0.7415/lb..
As of 1928 GMT, Bloomberg's commodity index was higher by 0.84% to 80.54, even as the US dollar spot index climbed off its session lows to edge up by 0.04% to 95.78.