Commodity Capsule: Brent crude oil subdued; copper climbs to 2.5-month high; gold near $2000

Commodity Capsule: Oil prices moved little on Wednesday after industry data pointed to a substantial build in U.S. inventories.

Traders continue to hold out for more supply cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

American Petroleum Institute data showed that U.S. stockpiles likely grew over 9 million barrels in the week to Nov. 17, substantially more than expectations for a 1.5 million barrel build-up.

This is indicative of the fourth straight week of builds for U.S. inventories

Brent oil futures hovered over the $82 mark after witnessing two sessions of robust gains. Both crude oil benchmarks settled flat on Tuesday.

Weakness in the dollar aided some strength to oil, as traders bet on an end to the Federal Reserve's rate hike cycle.

Gold held near the key $2,000 level on Wednesday, as the dollar stemmed its recent drop.

Expectations that the US Federal Reserve has reached the end of its tightening cycle cushion bullion prices.

Spot gold hit a three-week high of $2,007.29 in the previous session

The dollar held steady against its rivals after dropping to a three-month low in the previous session. 

Fed officials agreed at their last policy meeting that they would proceed "carefully" and only raise interest rates if progress in controlling inflation faltered.

Markets are widely expecting the Fed to leave rates unchanged in December and pricing in a 60 per cent chance of a rate cut of at least 25 basis points by May.

US existing home sales dropped to the lowest level in over 13 years in October.

Benchmark US 10-year Treasury yields languished near a two-month low.

London copper hovered at 2.5-month highs on Wednesday after US Federal Reserve minutes showed a cautious approach to more interest rate hikes.

Copper on the London Metal Exchange hovered $8,400 a tonne mark, hovering at its highest level since September 5.

The dollar index held near three-month lows, after Fed officials said inflation remained well above their target but noted that rates would only need to be raised if new data showed insufficient progress on reducing price pressures.

Limited supply and healthy demand in China underpinned imports, reflected by a rally in the Yangshan copper premium, which hit a one-year high this week.

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