Spotlight: Gold and silver fell while platinum surged to a record. Oil rose as dense sea fog slowed crude imports into the Houston Ship Channel. Wheat limit up on Monday as demand for spring wheat strengthened while inventories remained at a low.
Energy: Crude oil rose after Turkish planes attacked suspected Kurdish insurgent bases and the Houston Ship Channel reopened following an 18-hour shutdown for fog. Oil rebounded more than a $1 to over $90 a barrel on Monday as dense sea fog slowed crude imports into the Houston Ship Channel, the waterway to the busiest U.S. petrochemical port. President George W. Bush is asking Congress to fund a 4.7 percent increase for the Energy Department's budget, the largest request for the department in five years.
Agriculture: Wheat in CBOT soared on Monday as demand for spring wheat has been strong of late, with inventories hovering at 30-year lows. CBOT wheat limit-up 30 cents and settled at $9.73 a bushel. Soybean futures also soared yesterday amid beginning of the year fund-buying, Brazilian crop concerns and spillover buying from soyoil. Soyoil futures hit record highs yesterday amid a strong showing from vegetable oils. Crude Palm Oil rose 3.5 percent on Monday after Indonesia said it will impose a 20-25 percent export tax on CPO and its by-products if international prices hit $1,200 and $1,300 a tonne.
Precious Metals: Gold futures extended Friday’s losses but finished off the low as profit-taking and technical weakness led investors to sell. Active month gold contract settled at $909.40 an ounce, down $4.10 from the previous day. Platinum futures on the other hand scaled to fresh record highs above $1,800 an ounce as power outages in South Africa disrupted mine production in the country. Platinum settled at $1,797.60 an ounce, up $27.40 from a day ago.
Industrial Metals: Copper prices firmed on Monday on signs of stronger demand and as the market feared about supply disruptions in China. Copper for three-month delivery in LME settled at $7,260 a tonne. Copper supply in China has been quite tight as the country battles its worst winter in five decades. Aluminium also closed higher as production of the metal used in power, packaging and construction is energy intensive and speculators watching the power problems in China and South Africa have been betting on higher prices. Aluminium closed at $2,665 a tonne.
(Source: Bloomberg)
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