A weaker US dollar helped most commodities to small gains last week, a bit of a contrast to the losses of the week before.
While the US dollar was firmer on Friday, it ended down by around 0.4% against a basket of other major currencies. The Aussie dollar ended the week at 71.57 US cents, up almost half a cent on the week.
In New York Comex Gold futures ended lower Friday as some encouraging economic data provided support for the dollar with industrial production up0.4%, a much better reading than expected. That helped offset the impact of the weaker than expected 0.1% rise in retail sales in August.
December gold futures fell $US7.10, or 0.6%, to settle at $US1,201.10 an ounce, for a rise of just 70 cents from the week-ago finish of $US1,200.40, according to FactSet data. Prices had fallen over the previous two weeks.
But the US and China trade war remains an issue with reports on Friday that Donald Trump has ordered tariffs be place don $US200 billion of Chinese imports.
Elsewhere in metals, Comex December silver fell 0.7% to $US14.142 an ounce. That was the lowest settlement for a most-active contract in 32 months – since January 2016, according to FactSet data. The metal lost 0.2% for the week.
Comex December copper lost 1.4% to $US2.646 a pound on Friday on the stronger dollar and the Trump tariff talk, holding onto a rise of roughly 0.9% for the week.
Copper prices also fell in London on the LME.
Three-month copper futures on the London Metal Exchange ended the regular session down 1% at $US5,973 a tonne. The Trump tariff then pushed industrial metals prices lower, with copper down 1.9% in electronic and lower over the week.
LME aluminum closed down 1.1% at $US2,043 a tonne and was down around 1.5% for the week.
LME zinc finished down 1.1% at $US2,334 a tonne, nickel rose 0.4% to $US12,655, lead rose 0.2% to $US2,040 and tin closed down 0.1% at $US19,040.
Meanwhile, global oil futures ended higher Friday on the impact of Hurricane Florence on US supplies and reports of increasing pressure on countries to comply with upcoming sanctions on Iranian oil.
Traders also watched the talk of new US tariffs on Chinese goods, which could hurt demand for oil.
In New York, October futures on West Texas Intermediate crude, rose by 40 cents, or 0.6%, to end at $US68.99 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract remains below the $US70.37 mark hit earlier in the week, but prices still saw a 1.8% weekly gain.
In Europe, November Brent settled with a loss of 9 cents, or 0.1%, at $US78.09 a barrel pressured by the continuing U.S.-China trade dispute and a report Thursday showing that global crude oil stocks reached a record in August.
Brent Global prices hit the highest point since May earlier this week and saw a gain of around 1.6% for the week.
The weekly report from Baker Hughes showed a rise of 7 in the number of active rigs drilling for oil in the US.
