Oil prices rallied and sugar futures struck 28-year highs this week amid light trading volumes, with markets winding down activities ahead of the Christmas and New Year festive season.
OIL: Oil prices jumped as a larger-than-expected drop in US energy stockpiles led to hopes of rising demand, traders said.
Data released by the US Department of Energy on Wednesday showed stockpiles of crude dropping by 4.9 million barrels to 327.5 million in the week ending Dec. 18, far above analyst expectations of a 1.1 million-barrel drawback.
Distillate inventories also slid 3.1 million barrels last week, against analyst forecasts of a 1.6 million barrel fall.
Data for distillates, which include heating oil, is in focus as winter starts to bite in the US and Europe.
Analysts cautioned however that despite the fall in stockpiles, inventory levels were still high.
“Crude oil stocks are still lingering near the upper end of the five-year range, thus creating doubt in our mind as to the underlying strength of the recent price rally,” MF Global analyst Tom Pawlicki said.
Oil prices have meanwhile risen for much of the week as traders bet on improving demand after OPEC decided against changing the cartel’s official crude output levels.
OPEC, as expected, held its crude output quotas unchanged at its meeting in Angola on Tuesday, warning of lingering weakness in the world economy.
Tuesday’s meeting capped a year of recovery for oil prices, which have more than doubled since the cartel set strict quota cuts in the depths of the economic crisis a year ago.
By Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), light, sweet crude for delivery in February jumped to US$77.02 from US$74.14 the previous Friday.
On London’s InterContinental Exchange (ICE), Brent North Sea crude for February delivery advanced to US$75.63 compared with US$74.50.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold and silver prices steadied, while platinum and palladium rose.
Gold managed to stay above US$1,100 in the wake of recent profit-taking following its run-up to a record high of US$1,226.56 an ounce at the start of the month.
By Thursday on the London Bullion Market, gold stood at US$1,104.50 an ounce, unchanged from the previous Friday.
Silver edged up to US$17.32 an ounce from US$17.31.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum increased to US$1,456 an ounce Thursday from US$1,417 the previous Friday.
Palladium rose to US$377 an ounce from US$365.
BASE METALS: Base metals prices mostly extended recent gains, with zinc and tin enjoying multi-month highs on fund buying.
By Thursday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months jumped to US$7,070 a tonne from US$6,881 a week earlier.
Three-month aluminum fell to US$2,249 a tonne from US$2,256.
Three-month lead dipped to US$2,346 a tonne from US$2,356.
SUGAR: Sugar prices hit a fresh 28-year high on tight supplies, traders said. Unrefined sugar reached US$0.2698 a pound (US$0.5948 per kilogram) on Thursday — the highest point since 1981.
“Tight global supplies remain a supportive influence in sugar, and should limit the downside,” the Public Ledger commodities review said.
By Thursday on the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT), the price of unrefined sugar for March rose to US$0.2676 a pound from US$0.2627 the previous Friday.
On LIFFE, London’s futures exchange, the price of a tonne of white sugar for delivery in March climbed to £694.50 from £678.20.
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