Gold and oil had solid starts to 2018 in the March quarter with another round of gains.
Gold enjoyed a third-straight quarterly gain in the opening three months of 2018, but it was the smallest quarterly rise in seven years.
Comex June gold the most-active contract, fell $2.70, or 0.2%, to settle at $US1,327.30 an ounce. The contract lost 2.1% last week and ended around 0.3% lower for March as a whole.
For the quarter and year to date, gold is up 0.7%, but FactSet points out that based on the most-active contract settlement of $US1,309.30 at the end of 2017, gold futures were up 1.4% for the first quarter and year to date—the smallest quarterly rise since the first quarter of 2011.
May silver futures on Comex ended March at $US16.268 an ounce. That was 1.9% lower for the week, 0.7% for the month and 5.5% for the quarter.
FactSet data shows the loss for the quarter (and year to date) was 5.1%, based on the most-active contract settlement of $US17.145 at the end of December.
Comex copper March ended at $US3.026 a pound, with the contract ending around 8.7% lower for the quarter. LME copper prices fell around 8% in the March quarter as well.
US May West Texas Intermediate crude ended US trading on $US64.94 a barrel. That was down 1.4% for the week, but 5.6% higher for the month, according to FactSet.
For quarter and year to date, the contract was up roughly 7.7%, with prices based on the most-active contracts up 7.5%.
May Brent crude futures ended the quarter above $US70 a barrel for the first time for more than three years.
The close before Easter of $US70.27 a barrel was about 0.3% lower for the week – a gain of 8.6% for the month and 6.3% for the quarter. Based on the most-active contracts, Brent rose 5.1% for the quarter and year to date. June Brent settled at $US69.34, up 58 cents.
The May contract for Brent topped $US70 over growing concerns in March that the US will not only withdraw from the 2015 international agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program and reinstate economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic, but also start a trade war with China.
Services group, Baker Hughes reported that the the number of act US rigs looking for oil fell by seven to 797 last week – the first weekly decline in three.
