BULLION Commodity
Precious metals prices ended Wednesday with gains following weakness in the US currency, which persuaded investors to go for gold. Positive economic data from US, the largest economy, also led to improved risk appetite among investors boosting the appeal of commodities prices as a whole.
According to the American Commerce department the US retail sales climbed 1.6 percent in the last month as against the expectations of 1.3 percent increase. COMEX gold June delivery settled up $6.20 at $1,159.60 an ounce.
A possible revaluation of Chinese Yuan is also expected to be supportive for the yellow metal as strengthening Chinese currency can lead to stronger Asian currencies and thus a resultant weakness in US dollar can lift prices of gold. However, appreciation in Indian rupee against the US dollar is keeping prices of gold at MCX subdued.
ENERGY Commodity
Crude oil prices recovered and ended with gains for the first time this week as positive economic data and fall in inventories supported the market sentiments along with a weaker US currency. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, May crude rose $1.79, or 2.13 percent, to settle at $85.84 a barrel.
Data released by the Energy Information Agency of US, the largest consumer of crude oil, showed that stocks of crude oil fell by 2.2 million barrels during last week against the forecast of a 1.6 million barrel rise. Gasoline stocks were also down 1.1 million barrels. Better than expected retail sentiment also gave rise to the idea of better prospective demand for crude oil in the near term.
Natural gas prices also followed crude oil on Wednesday and ended with gains as profits booking helped prices pull itself back from dips. Natural gas for May delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled 3.9 cents, or 0.94%, higher at $4.199 a million British thermal units. The market is looking forward the EIA data due for release later today. The data is expected to show a 77 billion cubic feet addition in inventories.
BASE METALS
Base metals prices also buoyed on Wednesday amidst falling US dollar and strong economic data releases. The weakness in the US dollar supported the metal with strong retail sales and positive corporate earnings. Copper for May delivery HGK0 ended up 1.00 cent at $3.6105 per lb on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division. The expectation of rising GDP of China, the largest consumer of copper, also helped the red metal up on Wednesday. China is expected to grow by 11.9 percent in the first quarter of 2010. The inventories of the commodity has fallen for yet another day.
Commodity Stocks Change
Nickel prices have also risen with it trading near recent highs. Supply disruptions and falling stocks are supporting the sentiments in the market. Nickel stocks at the LME have been on a steady decline since mid-February, down 618 tonnes on Wednesday to 153,306 tonnes since late December last year.
