Oil, metals slip while natural gas sees technical rebound; gold consolidates

Energy, bullion and base metal commodity futures were all broadly down, as measured by their respective commodity indexes on MCX, data from the exchange showed.

Energy

Crude oil continued its decline, failing to sustain gains recorded earlier in the day after Joe Biden dropped out from the US Presidency race.

Crude oil futures expiring August 19 on the MCX fell 0.5% to ₹6,576 per barrel, amid concerns over weak demand in China.

Oil has fallen from a peak of nearly ₹7,000 early in July after data showed a decline in China’s oil imports in June, and as Donald Trump, who has been leading the Presidential polls, indicating who would push to ramp up US production.

However, natural gas futures expiring on August 27 surged 3.6% to ₹188 per mmBtu. Gas has fallen from a high of ₹260 on June 11, as inventories in the US recently came in below expectations and as the commodity looked oversold technically.

Base metals

MCX iCOMDEX Base Metal, which draws its price from copper, zinc, lead and aluminium, fell 0.9% in trade today.

Losses were led by aluminium, down 1.4% and zinc, down 0.9%. Copper was off 0.6%.

The decline in metals was because of Chinese gross domestic product data last week, which showed the world’s second largest economy growing at 4.7% in the second quarter of 2024, below estimates.

Precious metals

Silver, whose price is driven partially by industrial use, and partly by its precious metal appeal, fell 0.7% while gold gyrated between red and green to trade flat at ₹72,938 per 10 grams.

Gold prices have been on an upswing lately amid expectations that the US Federal Reserve would cut interest rates at its September meeting.

Economic Calendar

Among key events this week, traders will watch the Indian Budget on July 23, declaration of the US Q2 GDP data on July 25 and release of the Core PCE inflation index on July 26.