Precious Metals: Silver plunged on strong greenback

Precious metals dropped on Friday after rising in the beginning of the week ahead of the ECB key interest rate decision. However, profit booking after benchmark interest rate cut sent the commodity pack lower.

Gold was pressured by strengthening US Dollar and fading stimulus from more accommodative policies of the ECB and PBoC.

Silver slipped on volatile world’s equities. Moreover, analysts claim that although US unemployment report was weaker than expected, the data were not so pessimistic to force the Fed to launch QE3.

Platinum price continued to fall, spurring output concerns as producers tend to close mines as price is too low to cover costs.

Palladium declined as recent interest rate cuts were considered as a sign of weak economic state of the top consuming countries.


Industrial Metals: Copper eased down on demand worries

Industry metals ended the week on a negative note as weak manufacturing activity worldwide and rising bond yields in peripheral countries of the Eurozone both weighted down on the base metals pack.

Aluminum lost 2.52% at LME amid deteriorating investors’ confidence and weak global equities.

Copper traded lower on Friday on stronger US Dollar and escalating concerns over the global economic stagnation. Easing measures by the ECB failed to convince traders in fast recovery of the region.

Nickel slid after CaNickel Mining Ltd announced that the firm will continue to halt its operations at Bucko Lake Nickel mine because of low prices.

Zinc eased down on global demand concerns as China’s economic expansion is likely to have slowed down more than expected last quarter.


Energy: Brent oil declined despite supply uncertainties

Energy commodities declined on Friday on rallying greenback and persistent demand concerns. US economic data continued to disappoint, with US non-farm payrolls growing less than expected in June and services sector’s weakening.

Crude oil futures decreased on sentiment that US economy is stagnating thus pressurizing energy demand of the world’s largest economy.

Brent oil followed bearish trend on demand worries. However, supply uncertainties amid oil workers’ strikes in Norway and threats from Iran limited losses of the commodity.

Natural gas came under heavy pressure as expectations for moderate temperatures in the US after heat wave are likely to weight on the natural gas demand for air-conditioning.

Heating oil moved in tandem with Brent and crude oil, sliding 2.11%. Disappointing news from the US added to the negative mood of the commodity.


Agriculture: Wheat retreated as US weather conditions may improve

Rural commodities mostly retreated from recent highs on Friday as weather conditions are likely to improve in the US.

Wheat was the top-loser after AccuWeather reported that temperatures in the US are expected to decrease in the next days. Cooler weather is likely to boost crop prospects in the country.

Corn retreated from the nine-month high as exports demand started to slow in view of high prices and availability of substitutes.

Sugar was the only gainer as sweetener’s supplies are expected to remain restricted after rainfalls in Brazil that harmed harvest.

Coffee dropped after Colombia announced that its output grew 52% on monthly basis in June. Moreover, Indian coffee crops may hit record high next year, potentially boosting exports.


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