Commodities ended mixed to weaker thanks to a higher US dollar, an easing of tensions around the Korean Peninsular and a slide in aluminium prices after the US weakened its latest sanctions against Russia.
Copper, lead and Zinc were also sharply lower on Friday in London and US markets.
Gold slid late in the week but oil was supported by market expectations the Trump administration will abandon the Iran nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions on the country’s energy exports. That decision is due May 12.
Crude oil saw little movement in trade after oil-field services firm Baker Hughes said the number of US oil rigs rose by 5 this week to 825. That points to continuing increases in US oil output in coming months.
June West Texas Intermediate crude fell 9 cents, or 0.1%, to end at $US68.10 a barrel in New York, leaving it down 0.4% for the week.
In Europe the global benchmark Brent crude saw the July futures contract end down 9 cents at $US73.79 a barrel.
The price of Brent earlier this week breached the symbolic $US75-a-barrel threshold for the first time since late 2014. It ended up 0.5% for the week.
Meanwhile Comex gold prices regained some ground on Friday after two days of losses as traders assessed the merits of Korea peace efforts and the first reading of first-quarter GDP, which came in slightly better than expected at an annual 2.3% (down from 2.9% in the last quarter of 2017).
Also helping gold was a fall in US bond yields, but any hope of big gains was limited by another solid day for the US dollar.
Comex June gold finished $US5.50, or 0.4%, higher at $US1,323.40 an ounce, bouncing off its lowest closing level since March 20. June gold lost 1.1% drop over the week.
US bond yields fell (see markets story) and the 10 year yield ended around 2.961%.
Elsewhere Comex May silver lost 8.5 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $US16.406 an ounce. July silver which is now the most-active contract, shed 7 cents, or 0.4%, at $US16.497.
For the week, the May contract for silver fell 4.6%, while the July contract dropped 4.2%.
May copper fell by 6.8 cents, or 2.2%, to $US3.046 a pound, while the more active July contract declined by 6.85 cents, or 2.2%, to settle at $US3.0695 a pound.
May Copper logged a weekly decline of 2.8%, while July’s registered a weekly fall of 2.7% – both big drops.
And aluminium fell on the London Metal Exchange on Friday after reports that sanctions-hit Russian producer Rusal will overhaul its management structure to restore shipments, further dampening fears of a supply shortfall.
The metal was set for its biggest weekly drop in seven years as investors cut bets that the sanctions, which sent aluminium to its highest since 2011 last week, would hurt availability.
The metal’s price started falling after the United States on Monday gave American customers of Rusal more time to comply with sanctions, though it rebounded as the week wore on.
Three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange closed 2.2% down at $US2,225 a tonne. It fell more than 9% last week, but will close with a monthly gain of around 12% at the close tonight (Monday, our time) in London.
Copper did not trade at the close but was bid down 2.4% at $US6,796 a tonne, suffering from the impact of a firmer dollar.
But that weakness could reverse in the next month with BHP’s Escondida copper mine in Chile about to enter a period of possible industrial disputation with early contract talks with its workers’ union ended without an agreement, setting the stage for legally scheduled negotiations to begin in June.
LME zinc ended 0.5% lower at $US3,121 a tonne, lead rose 0.4% to $US2,346, nickel lost 2.3% to $US13,875 and tin closed with a 2.3% decline at $US20,900.
Public holidays today and tomorrow in China will see iron ore traded lightly after prices ended last week above $US65 a tonne for 62% ore delivered to northern China.
The Metal Bulletin index price fell 60 US cents on Friday to end at $65.68 per tonne cfr Qingdao.
That was down from the April 20 close of $US67.09, but still higher than the previous Friday’s close of $US64.96.
