Commodity Capsule: Brent crude oil rebounds, Gold near its highest level

Commodity Capsule: Crude prices were largely rangebound on Wednesday, as the market is left directionless after its brief rally on the latest Middle East crisis early this week.

Brent crude December contract was hovering close to $88 a barrel. It finished Tuesday’s session down 0.6 per cent.

Both WTI and Brent shot over 4 per cent on Monday, with markets on red alert over fears of political and economic contagion arising from the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Crude prices, meanwhile, fell as traders hit the pause button on the market’s advance to better assess the direct impact of the conflict.

Eyes on minutes from Federal Reserve’s policy meeting for September

Top officials of the central bank veering towards another hold on rate hikes in November.

Market participants will be on the lookout for US weekly oil inventory data.

Gold prices held near their highest levels in more than a week on Wednesday

Comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials suggested that a recent surge in Treasury yields might reduce the need for more rate hikes, sending the dollar lower.

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said the U.S. central bank need not raise borrowing costs any further and sees no recession ahead.

Spot gold hovers $1,860 an ounce level, having hit its highest level since September 29, Tuesday.

The dollar dipped to a nearly two-week trough against a basket of currencies, near 105.50 level, tracking a slide in US Treasury yields.

LME Copper rebounded on Wednesday due to a weaker US dollar and on hopes of renewed demand from China, with the possibility of new stimulus to boost its economy.

Copper on the London Metal Exchange has been holding on to key $8,000 level, paring one per cent loss in the previous session.

Dovish comments from Fed officials led investors to believe there could be a pause to the central bank's interest rate hike.

Policymakers in China are weighing the issuance of at least one trillion yuan of additional sovereign debt for spending on infrastructure.

Weighing on the industrial metals demand perspective was the housing crisis in China.

China's largest private property developer Country Garden warned on Tuesday about its inability to meet offshore debt obligations.

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