Another reasonable week for key commodities – iron ore finished higher, as did gold and copper (hitting the highest level for more than four months), but oil and wheat again eased.
While iron ore prices fell further on Friday, they still ended the week slightly higher at $US67.14 a tonne for 62% ore delivered on a cfr (cartage and freight) basis to northern China – that’s up $US1.14 a tonne from the close the previous Friday.
But its around 4% down on the week’s high of $US70.24 (which was the highest price since April 11), according to prices from the Metal Bulletin.
Coking coal prices traded up to $US174 to $US175 a tonne for premium hard metallurgical coal – up around $US9 a tonne by Friday.
Helping lift prices was stronger demand from Chinese steel mills and the weakness in the US dollar which hit 11 month lows by Friday’s close against its major trading currencies.
Oil ended at its lows for the week on Friday in Europe and the US ahead of an OPEC meeting tonight, our time (See separate story) for a loss of 1.7% for Brent crude and around 2.1% for US crude futures.
Gold prices settled at their highest level in a month on Comex in New York in a month on Friday, more than 2% for the week, thanks to uncertainty about President Trump and the growing weakness in the US dollar which raised demand for the metal.
Comex August gold futures rose $US9.40, or 0.8%, to settle at $US1,254.90 an ounce. The settlement was the highest since June 23, according to FactSet.
Prices were up 2.2% for the week, after a rise of 1.5% the previous week.
Among other metals, Comex September silver rose 11.2 cents, or 0.7%, to $US16.457 an ounce, for a weekly rise of 3.3%.
And Comex September copper ended at $2.7225 a pound, up less than a cent, or 0.2% on the day and up 1.2% for the week.
That was the highest level in four and a half months.
Three-month LME copper closed up 0.8% at $US6004 a tonne in London on Friday night after touching the highest since March 1 of $US6051 in trading.
Helping that performance were a fall in copper stocks in Shanghai and the 11 month low for the US dollar.
Looking forward and the big news event this week will be the two Fed meeting which ends early Thursday Sydney time.
The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting is expected to be a relatively minor event, but watch the wording of the post meeting statement for signs the central bank might be backing off a touch on its rate rise pressure.
