NEW YORK: Commodities fell on Wednesday, snapping four straight days of gains, with a strong dollar and a general slowdown in demand pressuring prices for oil, metals and most crops.
Some raw materials, like robusta coffee and corn, slid on profit-taking as traders unwound bullish bets built since last Thursday on optimism about the US economic recovery.
Benchmark Brent crude oil in London fell after the dollar climbed to a seven-month high against a basket of currencies and hit a three-month peak versus the euro.
A larger-than-expected increase in US crude inventories, and a trimmed demand forecast from the International Energy Agency, also weighed on oil prices.
Copper was also hit by the stronger dollar while gold slipped after a failure to rise past $1,600 an ounce prompted investors in bullion to reduce positions.
The Thomson Reuters-Jefferies CRB index, a bellwether for commodity prices, settled down 0.3 percent. Thirteen of the 19 markets tracked by the CRB ended down, with coffee, soybeans, silver and heating oil falling 1 percent each.
NATGAS, COTTON BUCK TREND
Natural gas and cotton each rose about 1 percent, bucking the lower trend. Gas hit a three-month high on forecasts for more cold weather in key US consuming regions. Short-covering and mill options drove cotton to 10-month peaks.
Brent crude settled down $1.13 at $108.52 per barrel, dropping below its 200-day moving average of $109.37, a technical level monitored by chart-watching traders and analysts.
US crude oil finished down 2 cents at $92.52.
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