EUROPEAN COMMODITIES UPDATE: Crude underpinned, but metals largely lack conviction

Analysis details (10:45)

WTI June and Brent July post modest intraday gains, but in the grander scheme, prices are consolidating, with the former around USD 102.50/bbl and the latter just north of USD 105/bbl. The fundamentals remain relatively unchanged in the market, with the key themes being China's COVID situation and the Russia-Ukraine war. However, markets are also looking ahead to next week's OPEC+ gathering, whereby the ministers are likely to maintain their pact and will likely flag China's zero-COVID policy as means to remain cautious, with Energy Intel also suggesting no change to OPEC+ policy, thus far. Analysts at ING meanwhile put some focus on the middle distillate market: "The backwardation in US heating oil has strengthened significantly over the last week, whilst heating oil cracks have also surged higher. This is not a trend isolated to just the US, we are seeing tightness globally when it comes to middle distillates. These strong cracks should be sending a very clear signal to refiners to either maximise middle distillate yields or increase run rates." The Dutch bank says. Over to metals, spot gold briefly dipped under its 100 DMA (USD 1,877.50/oz) to a current low of around USD 1,871/oz as the Buck was rampant at the time, although the yellow metal has since pared losses and heads back towards touted resistance around USD 1,890/oz. Base metals markets are relatively mixed with some underperformance seen in LME nickel, potentially as Glencore upped its nickel production forecast, although cut its respective copper forecast - LME and CME copper futures trades flat.

28 Apr 2022 - 10:44- MetalsResearch Sheet- Source: Newsquawk