Commodity prices lost some of their bounce towards the end of last week
Crude-oil futures prices fell Friday, despite more data from services group, Baker Hughes which showed a further rise in US oil rigs.
Baker Hughes said the number of US oil drilling rigs in use rose by 5 last week week to 602, the highest since early 2016.
Compared with a year earlier, the number of rigs is up by 202, or up a 3rd. The total number of rigs in use rose by 3 to 754 (two gas rgs were taken out of use during the week). The total figure is up 252 on a year ago, or 50%.
In London Brent crude settled down 1.04% at $US55.99 a barrel while in New York West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 0.8% to end at $US53.99.
On Thursday, oil prices got a boost from US Energy Information Administration data showing a small rise in crude stockpiles because of the holiday-shortened week cut the amount of crude imports landed.
That saw West Texascrude up 1.6% and Brent surge 1.3%.
For the holiday-shortened week, oil futures remained on track for an advance. WTI up around 0.5%, and Brent up by a similar amount 0.5% rise.
The 564,000 barrel increase reported by the EIA was far short of the 3.4 million barrel addition anticipated by analysts and that gave the market hope.
But the market ignored US crude production regaining the 9 million barrels a day level for the first time since early April 2016. That remains the big warning signal for oil prices
Meanwhile Comex gold futures settled higher for a second straight session on Friday, notching up its highest finish in more than three-and-half months, and a fourth straight week of gains.
Traders said haven demand rose amid growing concerns about geopolitics and the Federal Reserve’s lack of commitment to lift benchmark interest rates also helped to support higher prices in the precious metals.
Gold for April delivery rose $US6.90, or 0.6%, to settle at $US1,258.30 an ounce, its best close since November 10, according to FactSet data. For the week, the metal rose 1.6%.
Comex silver for March meanwhile, jumped 22 cents, or 1.3%, to close at $US18.34 an ounce. Silver gained 1.7%, for the week for the ninth week in a row.
And Comex copper for May delivery, the most active contract, finished up nearly 4 cents, or 1.4%, at $US2.68 a pound, down from $US2.70 a pound a week earlier.
