Commodities: WTI in focus on Venezuela crisis, gasoline higher despite SPR release
Commodities were seeing nearly across-the-board gains on Tuesday, after the US president accused China and Europe of manipulating their currencies.
As of 1736 BST, the US dollar spot index was off by 0.41% to 95.5080, helping to push the Bloomberg commodity index up by 0.22% to 83.52.
Traders were also keeping an eye on the events unfolding in Venezuela, the holder of the biggest oil reserves in the world, with several thousands of people said to now be fleeing the country each day given skyrocketing hyperinflation and heightened on top of the already endemic insecurity.
Against that backdrop, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were rising by 1.22% to $67.24 a barrel on the NYMEX, alongside similar gains in the other main energy contracts, including those for natural gas an heating oil.
Gasoline futures on the other hand were up by just 0.21% to $2.0193 a gallon after the Department of Energy announced the day before the first oil sale from America's strategic reserves since 2015.
According to analysts, the timing of the previously announced move may be linked to a desire to dampen gasoline prices ahead of the mid-term elections in November
On a related note, and looking out to the impact of the upcoming sanctions on Iran, analysts at Capital Economics said that the current surplus in the SPR meant the White House could release roughly 330,000 barrels a day of oil, for a year, without falling below the recommended 90 days-worth of oil import cover.
However, it added that: "if Trump is successful at reducing Iran's oil exports to zero, then the SPR won’t be big enough to compensate, and prices will inevitably soar. In addition, there is little evidence that small SPR releases impact oil prices in the absence of a supply shortage."
In parallel, metals' prices on the LME were mostly higher, with three-month copper futures peaking their head above the $6,000 per metric tonne level, albeit amid low turnover.