Oil prices managed a modest recovery on Tuesday while base metals staged a rebound, helped by gains in equity markets as investors looked forward to this week’s meeting of the Federal Reserve which is expected to deliver a cut in US interest rates.
Nymex December West Texas Intermediate rose $1.45 to $64.67, recovering from a low of $61.30 on Monday, the weakest level since May 2007.
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ICE December Brent gained $1.14 at $62.55 a barrel.
Oil prices have remained under pressure spite of last week’s decision by Opec to cut supplies by 1.5m barrels a day in an effort to stabilise the market.
Gold traded at $749.25 a troy ounce, ranging between a low of $726.70 and a high of $755, after ending trading in New York on Monday at $729.60, supported by weakening in the US dollar and a recovery in equity markets.
After sharp losses on Monday, base metals staged a rebound with copper up 4 per cent to $4,160 a tonne while aluminium gained 1.5 per cent at $2,055 a tonne, tin jumped 12.2 per cent to $14,900, lead vaulted 9.9 per cent to $1,440 a tonne, zinc added 1.3 per cent at $1,165 a tonne and nickel gained 5.2 per cent at $11,998 a tonne.
Chinese copper demand is set to weaken sharply this year, according to Antaike, the state-owned research group which said consumption growth would slow from 13.4 per cent in 2007 to 7.5 per cent this year and to 6.1 per cent in 2009, due to the poor performance of the property market and reduced export orders for copper products.
