Commodities: Gold, oil and iron ore prices fall in wake of strengthening dollar
Gold prices slid on Friday as investors became concerned about the strengthening dollar. Gold for April delivery dropped 0.5% to $1,199.80 an ounce.
Brent Crude
$87.11
07:03 19/04/24
Gold
$2,382.70
03:30 19/04/24
Gold Spot
n/a
n/a
IG analyst Chris Beauchamp said: “The rally in precious metals has been stopped in its tracks, mostly due to the expectation of further US dollar strength but also to a perception that the gains of the past week or more were not much more than an oversold bounce that got a little carried away.”
Meanwhile, Brent futures fell 5.1% to $56.20 at the end of Friday’s session, while ICE WTI futures coming in 5.5% lower at $48.58 per barrel.
CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler said: “Crude oil erased some of yesterday’s Yemen-related gains as the inevitable realisation that there will be no supply-disruption began to get priced in.
“The pile-up in US crude oil stocks was added to again this week by 8.17m in a clear demonstration of over-supply that isn’t going to be outweighed by conflict in a marginal producer such as Yemen.”
Beauchamp added: “Oil prices are already coming off as the market readjusts to Saudi Arabia’s more interventionist stance, but absent a sudden drop in output the upside momentum does not look to have much life span left to it.”
Over on LME, three-month copper futures decreased 1.8% to $6,066.00 a tonne. Lawler said: “A fall in industrial profits in China led to copper falling below $2.80 per lb as Chilean mines were ready to reopen.”
Iron ore slid to a six-year low due to oversupply and a slowdown in the Chinese property market. Iron ore prices for immediate delivery at Qingdao fell 4% on Friday to $53.14 per tonne.