LONDON, Aug 16 (AFP): Oil and gold prices retreated this week, with demand for the commodities pressured by strains in the global economy.
OIL: Prices slid on a slew of downbeat economic data from around the world, analysts said. Futures tumbled by more than two dollars on Thursday, with Brent crude hitting the lowest closing level for 13 months.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold dropped over the week, dragged down by weak demand in top consuming countries China and India. Gold consumption fell by an annualised 16 per cent in the second quarter of 2014 as Chinese and Indian buyers cut back after record purchases a year earlier, sector data showed Thursday. A director of the World Gold Council (WGC) forecast the full-year result would also be lower than in 2013, but probably not represent as big a drop as during the three months from April through June.
BASE METALS: Prices mostly dropped on the poor economic data from key importer China. "Metal prices find themselves under pressure across the board... after somewhat weaker economic data were published in China," analysts at Commerzbank said in a note to clients. China's industrial production, which measures output at factories, workshops and mines in the world's second-largest economy, rose 9.0 per cent year-on-year in July, the government said Wednesday. But this marked a slowdown from the 9.2 per cent recorded in June.
COFFEE: Prices diverged amid tight supply concerns in key producer Brazil. By Friday on ICE Futures US, Arabica for delivery in September dropped to 184.50 US cents a pound from 191.55 cents a week earlier. On LIFFE, Robusta for September climbed to $1,943 a tonne from $1,937 a week earlier.
SUGAR: Futures fell against a backdrop of robust supplies. By Friday on LIFFE, the price of a tonne of white sugar for delivery in October inched lower to $431.30 from $432.70 a week earlier. On ICE Futures US, the price of unrefined sugar for October fell to 15.95 US cents a pound from 16.13 US cents a week earlier.
RUBBER: Prices in Kuala Lumpur sank as a stronger ringgit currency deterred overseas demand, while concerns over China's economy and price declines for other commodities weighed, traders said. The Malaysian Rubber Board's benchmark SMR20 dropped to 166.05 US cent a kilo from 168.60 cents a week earlier.
COCOA: Futures hit fresh three-year highs on strong demand. Cocoa reached the highest peaks since July 2011, striking 2,031 a tonne in London and $3,248 a tonne in New York.
