Commodities trading outlook: gold, silver and copper futures

Gold prices steadied during midday trade in Europe today, as investors weighed tensions and risks from the conflicts in Iraq and Ukraine. Meanwhile, copper futures were higher, supported by Chinese CPI.

Gold futures for December delivery on the COMEX in New York traded at $1 309.6 per troy ounce at 13:13 GMT, down 0.11%. Prices ranged from $1 306.4 to $1 312.9 per troy ounce. The contract added 1.4% last week.

Silver for September was up 0.27% at $19.995 per troy ounce. The contract added about 1.3% last week.

“Any signs that the crises could be de-escalating would threaten the recent rally in gold and render the metal vulnerable to a slide,” Abhishek Chinchalkar, an analyst at Mumbai-based AnandRathi Commodities Ltd., said in a report today. Data “continued to suggest that the U.S. economy is recovering. If the dollar continues strengthening, the upward thrust in gold is likely to be curtailed.”

Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki said he will take Iraq’s president Fuad Masum to court over what Maliki called a “coup”, after the President refused to offer Mr Maliki, whose party won majority in April’s election, a mandate to form a government.

Soon after Mr Maliki went on TV to accuse the President, security forces loyal to the PM appeared in Baghdad. No confrontations were reported, but the move was widely seen as a show of force by the PM, who has dismissed the calls to step down.

The US expressed their full support for President Masum, while continuing to support Kurdish fighters in their struggle against the Islamic State (IS). Meanwhile, Kurdish authorities asked for arms to fight the “better-equipped” IS militants.

Elsewhere, the Ukrainian military said it has gained more ground against the pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk, pointing that the rebels were in “panic and chaos” and had begun to desert en masse.

“A large number of enemy hardware and personnel was destroyed. Panic and chaos have been noted among the terrorists,” military spokesman Oleksiy Dmytrashkivsky said.

The separatists’ strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk have been under siege for more than a week now. Rebels called for a ceasefire, but the proposal was dismissed by Kiev.

Meanwhile, Russia offered humanitarian aid once more, with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko saying he would consider it, only if it is international and unarmed.

Moscow was warned by NATO to not use a humanitarian or peacekeeping mission as a pretext to send troops to Ukraine, in light of a recent build up of Russian combat-ready troops near the Ukrainian border.

Copper

Copper futures for September delivery stood at $3.1850 per pound, up 0.36%. The red metal lost about 1.3% last week.

China, the worlds leading consumer of industrial metals with a 40% share of total copper demand, posted key economic figures yesterday. CPI was up 2.3% on an annual basis and 0.1% month-on-month.

“The data from China has been improving for a while now, and the gradual loosening of monetary conditions has been supportive to growth,” Nic Brown, head of commodity research at Natixis, said for Reuters.

Previously, China reported declining imports of the red metal last week, recording a drop of 2.9% on a monthly basis, pressuring copper prices lower.

Later this week, China will post the key readings of industrial production, retail sales and fixed assets investments, with expectations of significant annual growth for all.