Commodities: China might be close to filling its strategic oil reserves
Commodities were broadly lower, led by losses in the energy patch, as the Greenback advanced in a late-day spurt of buying after the Governor of the Bank of England signalled that further policy easing was likely over the summer.
The Bloomberg commodity index was 0.27% lower at 89.06 as of 18:24 BST, alongside a gain of 0.51% to 96.26 for the spot US dollar index.
According to analysts at JP Morgan China may be close to filling its strategic petroleum reserves, having doubled its purchases in 2016 as prices slumped, Bloomberg reported.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures slipped 2.59% to $48.59 per barrel on the NYMEX, although it was heating oil futures which did worst, surrendering 3.21% to $1.4842 per gallon.
Gold futures were also weighed down by strength in the US dollar, dipping 0.58% to $1,319.20/oz. on COMEX.
US-traded silver futures on the other hand gained 0.89% to $18.57/oz..
COMEX copper was also higher by 0.27% to $2.1920 per pound.
Spot platinum advanced 1.07% to $1,019.20/oz..
Among soft commodities, September 2016 futures on the Chicago Board of Trade lost 3.31% to $3.6525 per bushel even as those for wheat tacked on 0.67% to $4.4750 per bushel.