Commodities: Oil futures end lower amid mixed Chinese trade data
Commodities were little changed at the end of the week on Friday as traders kept their cards close to their chest ahead of the long holiday weekend in the States.
Energy futures were weaker following mixed Chinese trade data referencing the month of December, with higher than expected exports alongside weaker than forecast imports.
Nevertheless, Chinese imports of crude oil climbed 755,000 barrels a day year-on-year or 9.6% to 8.6 mb/d during December, analysts at Barclays pointed out.
In parallel, overseas purchases of coper concentrates fell by 5.1% month-on-month, yet that represented a 13% gain year-on-year.
The above data saw Brent crude futures slip 1.0% to $55.45 a barrel on the ICE while natural gas futures were up 0.97% to $3.42/MMBtu on NYMEX.
For the week, West Texas Intermediate declined 3% amid simmering doubts regarding OPEC countries´ compliance with their output quotas.
Metals´ prices were generally higher, with COMEX copper adding 0.69% to reach $2.69 a pound.
Silver futures rose 0.42% to $16.184/oz.. and spot platinum was up 0.75% to $984.85/oz..
Among agricultural commodities, cocoa futures on ICE slipped 0.76% to $2,213 a metric tonne while live cattle futures on the CME.