EUROPEAN COMMODITIES UPDATE: Crude choppy amid a slew of geopolitical updates

Crude Oil: WTI May +0.4%/Brent May +0.3%

• A choppy start to the week for the crude complex in which prices were lacklustre overnight amid the subdued risk appetite in Asia before trending higher in European hours.


• Price action follows the deluge of geopolitical-related headlines over the weekend - including US-Ukraine talks and Israel strikes against Hamas and Hezbollah.


• On the Russia-Ukraine front, closed talks between US and Russian delegations in Riyadh commenced, with traders on the lookout for an alignment between Russia and Ukraine's demands, albeit unlikely. During the talks, Russia reported Ukraine attempted to attack an oil pumping station in Russia's Krasnodar. Russia's Kremlin, on energy strike moratorium, said they are monitoring the situation after attacks by Ukraine.


• In the Middle East, recent reports via AP suggested Egypt has put forward a new proposal to try to put the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas back on track - reports which seemingly sparked some weakness in the complex - with Israel signalling positive but large gaps. Over the weekend, Israel carried out multiple air strikes on Lebanon after several rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel. Iranian Foreign Ministry warned of the repercussions of the new Israeli escalation against Lebanon, according to Sky News Arabia


• In Europe, a mixed set of Flash PMIs offered little in terms of direction for the crude complex, although one key theme highlighted by the regional and EZ-wide release was tariff uncertainty.


• WTI May resides in a USD 67.95-68.60/bbl range while its Brent counterpart sits in a USD 71.80-72.45/bbl parameter.

Precious Metals: Gold +0.5%, Silver +0.7%, Palladium +0.4%

• Mild upward bias across precious metals as DXY trades flat/subdued and eyes remain on geopolitics, with Israel said to be expanding its operations in Gaza, although Egypt has put forth a renewed ceasefire proposal.


• Spot gold lacked firm direction overnight after last week's pullback from record levels and as participants look ahead to a relatively busy calendar for US data this week, including the latest Core PCE prices on Friday.


• The yellow metal resides in a USD 3,013.99-3,030.80/oz parameter.

Base Metals: 3M LME Copper -0.4%

• Copper futures remain afloat after the recent rally in prices, with the red metal eventually topping the psychological USD 10k level.


• JP Morgan double-upgraded the European Mining Sector to Overweight from Underweight.


• 3M LME copper currently resides towards the upper end of a USD 10,035.00-9,909.67/t range.

24 Mar 2025 - 10:05- MetalsGeopolitical- Source: Newsquawk