Crude oil remains strong and is currently trading at 74.2 in Asian morning. Although we only have a light economic calendar today, stock markets in Asia rally as an extension of US's strength recorded last Friday. This helps support the trading momentum in commodities.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gains +2.1% while Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average rises +3.4% to 10581. Decline in yen is positive for the export-dependent Japanese economy and auto makers such as Honda and Toyota Motor advance. Commodity companies also surge with each of the Australia-listed BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Woodside Petroleum rising about +4%.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the largest rebel group in Nigeria, said that it will resume massive attack on oil facilities after the ceasefire ends on September 15 as the Government refused to address the 'real issue'. Nigeria is a member in the OPEC and attacks by MEND have disrupted oil exports in Nigeria by more than 20% since 2006.

Gold price consolidates around 950 level in Asian session after rising +1.4% last Friday. As inversely correlated with USD, a look in the dollar's movement should help gauge outlook of the yellow metal. Against the euro and the pound, the greenback trades narrowly at 1.43 and 1.65. However, the dollar rises for the third consecutive day again Japanese yen. Considering the dollar index, a barometer constituted 6 major currencies, refuses to fall severely while trading below 80 for more than a month. The stickiness in the dollar's movement causes recent sideways movement in gold.

Platinum price has little change today as the strike by workers in Impala has been called off and labor unions said they will discuss a +10% pay rise offer although they initially requested a +14% increase.

Commitments of Traders
  • Crude Oil: Net speculative long positions dropped for the second week to 22698 contracts after rising to 5-week high in the prior week. A increase in net long positions will probably seen in the coming week given the recent surge in oil price
  • Natural Gas: Net shorts rose and reached the highest level since September 2008. The trend is still bearish as investors remained concerned about the huge gas storage
  • Gold: Net speculative long positions declined more than -12000 to 177530 contracts. Just like the price in gold price, net long positions in the yellow metal hovers around high level but with no breakthrough
  • Silver: Net speculative long positions for silver had little change after rising to 8-week high at 27810 contracts in the prior week. Improvement in economic outlook, should benefit silver more than gold as the former has been widely used in industrial applications
  • Platinum: Net long positions made another record high of 14283 contracts last week. Signs of recovery in auto sector fueled speculations on better demand outlook