EUROPEAN COMMODITIES UPDATE: Crude consolidates, gold awaits the Fed, and LME nickel's resumption fails

WTI and Brent front-month futures trade with modest gains following the recent slump. Upside overnight was spurred amid the risk appetite from Chinese markets (alongside some potential short covering), but prices have been waning off intraday highs following constructive commentary on negotiations from Russia. Furthermore, Equinor, together with Norwegian authorities, announced it is to take new steps to meet the gas demand in Europe. It stated the increased production permits allow the high gas production from the Troll, Oseberg and Heidrun fields to be maintained through the summer months. Adding to this, the IEA lowered its 2022 oil demand growth forecast by 950k BPD and said emergency stocks provided by IEA members provide a welcome buffer but forecasts 3mln BPD of Russian oil output could be shut in as of April. WTI Apr resides around USD 97.50/bbl (vs high 99.22/bbl) while Brent May trades around USD 102/bbl (vs high 103.70/bbl). Over to metals, spot gold is underpinned by the softer Dollar but cautious pre-FOMC. Meanwhile, LME nickel futures briefly resumed trade in which prices hit limit down straight away. LME said it has halted the market to investigate a potential technical issue with the limit-down band with some trades occurring below the limit, which will be cancelled.

16 Mar 2022 - 10:06- MetalsRumour- Source: Newsquawk