Oil prices eased on Friday, treading water, as traders awaited the outcome of an Opec gathering this weekend in Cairo while gold traded in a narrow range and base metals remained under pressure at the end of a difficult week, dominated by ongoing concerns about the outlook for demand for commodities in the face of a global economic recession.
Nymex January West Texas Intermediate lost $1.05 at $53.43 a barrel while ICE January Brent dropped 19 cents to $52.94 a barrel.
Opec is widely expected to cut production before the end of the year in an effort to stabilise the market but the cartel might decide to postpone any decision until its regular meeting in December instead of announcing a policy change as early as this weekend.
Opec's General Secretary Abdullah al-Badri said the oil market was oversupplied but said catel's members "must be patient and not panic".
Traders say some Opec members might prefer to wait to assess the effectiveness of the production cuts that it has already made, or to gain more feedback from customers, before proceeding with further reductions in output.
Mike Wittner, global head of oil research at Société Générale, points out that tanker tracking data, which helps provide a preliminary assessment, suggested a "very significant cut" in Opec's oil production in November, down 1.2m barrels a day compared with October.
Lloyds Marine Intelligence Unit data, released on Thursday, indicated that Opec has adhered to production cuts pledged a month ago. Opec's exports by sea fell by 315,000 barrels a day in the four weeks to November 9 with exporters from the Gulf accounting for half of the cuts while other members, such as Nigeria, continue to have supply issues.
"The data suggests that while quota adherence is to be admired, a sceptic might say that demand is visibly under threat and the call on members oil exports is at an all time low," said Rob Laughlin, analyst at MF Global.
Gold traded at $812.75 a troy ounce, trading in a narrow range of between a low of $813.30 and a high of $816.15, after ending trading in New York at $814.55.
Gold has held above the $800 mark throughout this week, trading in a less volatile fashion than for much of this year.
Copper sank 2.7 per cent to $3,630 a tonne, trading close to a three-year low, under pressure from rising inventories.
Aluminium inventories at London Metal Exchange warehouses have reached their highest level for 14 years, weighing on aluminium prices, down 1.2 per cent to $1,763 a tonne.
Lead lost 2.5 per cent at $1,080 a tonne, as the sharp downturn in the US car industry has hurt demand for new car batteries, which account for almost 15 per cent of the world's lead consumption.
Figures from the Battery Council International, the trade association, showed that deliveries of new batteries in the US fell 12 per cent year-on-year in September.
The fall was, however, countered by a 5.4 per cent rise in deliveries of replacement batteries, which account for 42 per cent of the world's lead demand.
Nickel sank below the $10,000 a tonne level, retreating 4.6 per cent to $9,850 a tonne, as global steelmakers have increased production cuts in response to the slowdown in worldwide industrial and construction activity.
