Commodity Capsule: Gold surges; Brent crude rises to 5-month high; copper rises

Commodity Capsule: Gold surged to a record high on Thursday past $2320/oz.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell underlined that recent job gains and higher-than-expected inflation readings do not significantly alter the overall picture of the central bank's monetary strategy.

US gold futures hold past $2,300 per ounce, hovering near its new record high of $2,323.

MCX Gold futures, expiring on 5th April, marked a new record high at Rs 70,248.

Bullion has hit record highs consecutively since last Thursday.

Powell said that "if the economy evolves broadly as we expect," he and his Fed colleagues largely agree that a lower policy interest rate will be appropriate "at some point this year."

Traders are pricing in a 62 per cent probability that the Fed will begin cutting rates in June.

Copper prices rose to 14-month highs on Thursday, buoyed by increasing optimism over China.

Potential production cuts by China’s biggest refiners presented a tighter outlook for supplies.

Copper futures on London Metal Exchange rose past $9,350 a ton, the highest levels since January 2023.

Weakness in the dollar aided commodity prices, as the greenback tumbled from five-month highs hit earlier this week.

China PMIs show improving factory activity, support copper prices

Chinese copper inventories were seen increasing so far in 2024, higher demand could still push up the country’s appetite for copper imports.

Recent reports showed that China’s biggest copper smelters were considering output cuts between 5 per cent to 10 per cent of overall production.

MCX copper shot close to the Rs 800 mark, its highest level since April 2022.

MCX aluminum is hovering at January 2023 highs, while Zinc has managed to push up to a 10-week high tracking international benchmarks.

Oil prices rose to five-month highs on Thursday, extending a rash of recent gains as the prospect of worsening geopolitical conditions in the Middle East presented more potential supply disruptions.

OPEC+ voted to maintain its current band of production cuts during a Wednesday meeting, presenting a tight outlook for crude in the near term.

Brent oil futures expiring in June hurtled towards $90 a barrel. WTI crude futures inched closer to $86 a barrel.

Middle East tensions and Russian disruptions boost oil prices.

Iran threatened retaliation for a perceived Israeli strike on its embassy in Damascus- pointing to worsening conditions in the Middle East.

Attacks on key Russian refineries heralded more supply disruptions for Moscow. Several Russian oil and fuel refineries either cut production or were taken out of commission in the wake of Ukrainian drone strikes.

Improving the Chinese economy aids the demand outlook.

Chinese manufacturing activity rose back into expansionary territory, while service sector growth also improved.

Malaysian palm oil futures rose on Thursday for a fifth straight session, taking the vegetable oil prices to near 18 months high.

Robusta coffee futures on ICE surged to 16 years, as investors renewed their focus on tight supplies in Vietnam.

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