Nickel, oil and copper starred in October among major commodities.
US and Brent crude futures gained more than 5%, as did copper and nickel, while hold faded and iron ore was off more than 5% as the cuts to Chinese production capacity started.
Both metals surged despite a stronger US dollar as investors and producers realised the electric car boom will mean greater demand for a range of previously ignored industrial metals. The prices of lead and zinc also rose, continuing the gains of preceding months.
The US dollar had its strongest month this year, while the Aussie fell 2.1% against the greenback, ending the month at 76.60 US cents.
Brent crude ended at $US61.37 a barrel, up 0.8% on the day while US West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $US54.38, also up 0.8% on the day and near its highest since February and close to its highest for more than two years.
For the month, Brent was up 8%, while WTI added 4.7%.
While iron ore prices were largely stable around $US58 per tonne in China on Tuesday, the loss for the month was more than $US3.50 a tonne or 5.6%.
The Metal Bulletin’s 62% Fe Iron Ore Index price was $US58.52 a tonne: down by 23 cents for the day. the average for October was $US61.44 a tonne.
The September price ending at $US62.05 on Friday, according to the Metal Bulletin.
Comex December gold fell $US7.20, or 0.6%, to settle at $US1,270.50 an ounce. It settled higher Friday and Monday, but gold’s finish at $US1,269.60 last Thursday was the lowest since August 8, according to data from US group, FactSet. The metal lost 1.1% for the month.
Comex December silver ended at $US16.693 an ounce, down 0.9%, but unlike gold, it rose for the month – just 0.1%.
December copper fell 0.4%, to $US3.101 a pound, up around 5.3% for the month. In London metal prices finished the month strongly – with nickel up 5% on Tuesday alone and hitting a high in after hours electronic trade.
LME nickel closed up 5.3% at $12,295 a tonne. In electronic trade it hit its highest since June 2015 at $1US2,455 a tonne.
LME Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange closed at $US6,839 tonne, down 0.4%, but still up more than 5% for the month.
