Commodity Capsule| Brent crude oil rises; gold steady; copper trade in tight range

Commodity Capsule: Gold prices struggled for momentum on Monday with US futures hovering past $2030/ounce.

Investors looked forward to U.S. inflation data due later this week for more clarity on the Federal Reserve's interest rate path after a dovish pivot last week.

Fed held interest rates steady last week and signalled that the historic tightening of monetary policy engineered over the last two years is at an end and lower borrowing costs are coming in 2024.

However, New York Fed President John Williams pushed back against surging market expectations of rate cuts.

Markets are now pricing in about a 70 per cent chance of a Fed rate cut in March.

Markets are awaiting a slew of US economic data this week, including the November core personal consumption expenditure index report on Friday.

Oil prices rose on Monday supported by lower exports from Russia and as attacks by the Houthis on ships in the Red Sea raised concerns of oil supply disruption.

Brent crude futures are hovering near $77 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude was trading past $72/barrel.

Russia said on Sunday it would deepen oil export cuts in December by potentially 50,000 barrels per day or more, earlier than promised to support global oil prices.

Moscow suspended about two-thirds of loadings of its main export grade Urals crude from ports due to a storm and scheduled maintenance on Friday.

World's biggest container shipping lines MSC and A.P. Moller-Maersk, said they would avoid the Suez Canal as Houthi militants in Yemen stepped up their assaults on commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

Copper prices hovered in a tight range on Monday as the US dollar steadied amid uncertainty about the Federal Reserve's interest rate path, while supply headwinds lent some support to the metal.

Copper on the London Metal Exchange edged past $8,500/metric ton.

The dollar index held steady after rebounding in the previous session as the New York Fed president said that it's "premature" to speculate about interest rate cuts.

Fees to process raw materials have fallen by a quarter in less than three months in the Chinese spot market, mainly due to fears of a decline in supply from First Quantum's Cobre mine in Panama.

Robusta coffee futures on ICE hit their highest price in at least 15 years

Coffee posted a 12 per cent weekly gain, amid weather worries and as farmers in top-producing regions refrain from selling in the hope their beans will fetch higher prices later.

March robusta coffee peaked at $2,860, the highest since these futures started trading in January 2008.

Arabica coffee settled at $1.90/lb on Friday, after hitting a seven-month peak of $1.9450 on Thursday. The contract gained 6.8 per cent in the week.

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