Precious Metals: Silver surged on lower greenback

Precious metals rallied on Friday amid broadly weaker US Dollar and optimism over the situation in the Eurozone after the EU leaders agreed on measures to combat crisis in the region.

Gold gained 2.88% on weaker US Dollar after the EU policymakers agreed to ease lending conditions for Spain and Italy.

Silver was the top-gainer amid solid global equities and depreciating US Dollar. The white metal caught momentum after the EU summit decision that may result in stabilization in the Eurozone.

Platinum went up on global supply concerns after Aquarius Platinum closed down another mine on expectations for lower price.

Palladium followed the platinum’s suit as investors started to buy the metal due to supply worries as instability at South African mines persisted.


Industrial Metals: Copper rose on the EU optimism

Industry metals skyrocketed on Friday as EU leaders decided to ease pressure on the indebted countries and put emphasis on growth-boosting strategies.

Aluminum rose despite reports that China’s aluminum output remained at record high levels. Moreover, the government increased subsidies for smelters thus supplies are likely to stay ample.

Copper gained a spree on the Eurozone’s optimism. However, buildup in copper inventories at LME warehouses limited gains of the red metal.

Nickel advanced as hopes for recovery of the Eurozone’s economy boosted demand prospects for the metal.

Zinc was the top-performer as increased demand from Japan and Korea provided fresh stimulus for the metal.


Energy: Crude oil rallied on supply concerns

Energy commodities soared as positive outcome of the EU summit is likely to increase energy consumption. From the supply side, the commodity group also was bolstered by start of a full Iranian oil embargo.

Crude oil rallied on news that the EU officials took concrete steps to combat crisis in the area. Moreover a 133,000 barrel fall in the US supplies last week provided additional support for the commodity price.

Brent oil soared on supply worries as strikes in Norway continued to restrict output while total Iranian oil exports ban, which comes in force on July 1, tightened supplies even more.

Natural gas surged on dip buying after Thursday’s slump as the IEA reported unexpected increase in the US inventories.

Heating oil followed the common upward trend on the EU meeting euphoria that lifted risk-appetite among market participants.


Agriculture: Sugar soared on HSBC forecast

Farm commodities rose on Friday amid broadly lower greenback and hopes for stronger demand after EU leaders agreed to ease debt conditions for Italy and Spain.

Wheat moved higher as weaker US Dollar and dry weather in the US stimulated price increase.

Corn eased up as US inventories attained 16-year low while unfavorable weather conditions continued to erode prospects for this year’s harvest.

Sugar was bolstered by the HSBC projection that global surplus will be lower in 2012-13 marketing year as Indian output may decline.

Coffee surged on the EU optimism and potential Brazilian production fall as rains during harvesting period compromised bean quality.


EXPLANATIONS

Commodities

  • Gold - spot 995 fine gold

  • Silver - spot 999 fine silver

  • Platinum - spot platinum with minimum purity 99.95%

  • Palladium - spot palladium with minimum purity 99.95%

  • Aluminium - three months forward aluminum contract on the London Metal Exchange

  • Copper - three months forward copper contract on the London Metal Exchange

  • Zinc - three months forward zinc contract on the London Metal Exchange

  • Nickel- three months forward nickel contract on the London Metal Exchange

  • Crude oil - light, sweet crude oil active contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange

  • Brent oil - Brent oil active contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange

  • Natural Gas - natural gas active contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange

  • Heating oil - heating oil active contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange

  • Sugar - white sugar on the LIF-NYSE LIFFE London Exchange

  • Wheat - wheat active contract on the Chicago Board of Trade

  • Coffee - benchmark Arabica coffee active contract on the NYB-ICE Futures Exchange

  • Corn - corn active contract on the Chicago Board of Trade

Indices

  • Dow Jones-UBS Precious Metals Subindex Total Return - commodity group subindex composed of gold and silver; the index reflects return on underlying commodity futures price movement

  • Dow Jones-UBS Industry Metals Subindex Total Return - commodity group subindex composed of futures contracts on aluminium, copper, nickel and zinc; the index reflects return on fully collateralized futures positions

  • Dow Jones-UBS Energy Subindex Total Return - commodity group subindex composed of futures contracts on crude oil, heating oil, unleaded gasoline and natural gas; the index reflects return on fully collateralized futures positions

  • Dow Jones-UBS Agriculture Subindex Total Return - commodity group subindex composed of futures contracts on coffee, corn, cotton, soybeans, soybean oil, sugar and wheat; the index reflects return on fully collateralized futures positions

Chart

  • SMA (20) - Simple Moving Average of 20 periods

  • SMA (60) - Simple Moving Average of 60 periods

  • Correlation - a statistical measure of the linear relationship of two random variables. It is defined as the covariance divided by the standard deviation of two variables

Indicators

Daily Ranked Price Moves - daily price changes in an ascending order for positive changes and in a descending order for negative or mixed changes

Monthly Ranked Price Moves - monthly price changes in an ascending order for positive changes and in a descending order for negative or mixed changes