Commodity Capsule: Brent crude steady; Gold climbs; base metal rise

Commodity Capsule: Base metals prices rose in London and extended gains on Thursday, buoyed by industrial profit gains in China, while aluminum jumped to an eight-month high on technical buying and supply concerns.

Aluminium on the London Metal Exchange gained 2 per cent to $2,400/metric ton, touching its highest since mid-April.

Aluminium gains were on the back of buying by Commodity Trade Advisor investment funds, which are largely driven by computer programmes.

Supply from Guinea, the world's third-largest producer of alumina raw material bauxite, was in focus after a December 18 blast damaged fuel tanks at the main oil terminal handling fuel imports.

LME Copper is hovering five-month high past $8,700 a ton, while Zinc is trading near $2,650 a ton, the highest since mid-November.

Oil prices steadied under $80 a barrel on Thursday after falling sharply in the previous session.

Concerns eased about shipping disruptions along the Red Sea route even as tensions in the Middle East continued to rise.

Prices dropped nearly 2 per cent on Wednesday as major shipping firms began returning to the Red Sea.

Danish shipping company Maersk said it has scheduled several dozen container vessels to travel via the Suez Canal and the Red Sea in the coming weeks after calling a temporary halt to those routes this month after attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militia.

The prospect of a prolonged Israeli military campaign in Gaza and the spillover of the conflict to attacks on ships in the Red Sea remain major drivers of market sentiment.

U.S. oil inventories rose by 1.84 million barrels in the week to Dec. 22-- American Petroleum Institute.

U.S. government data on stockpiles is due on Thursday, delayed by a day due to the Christmas holiday on Monday.\

Gold prices climbed to a three-week high on Thursday.

U.S. dollar and bond yields touched multi-month lows on mounting bets that the U.S. central bank will start to cut interest rates as early as March next year.

US gold futures inching closer to $2,100 per ounce, hitting their highest since Dec. 4, when prices raced to a record high of $2,135.40.

Bullion looked set to log its best year in three with a 15 per cent gain, as the war in Ukraine and tensions in the Middle East boosted safe-haven inflows and bets of U.S. rate cuts lifted the metal's appeal.

Bets for interest rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve have firmed following cooler inflation data, with traders now pricing in an 88 per cent chance of monetary policy easing in March.

The dollar index slipped to a five-month low and was set for its worst yearly performance since 2020, while benchmark U.S. 10-year bond yields languished near their lowest level since July.

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