Precious metals are trading lower on COMEX today. We expect further decline in the prices as there was no hint of monetary tightening from U.S. Base metals are trading lower on international bourses today. We expect prices to trade lower in the evening session due to dollar recovery and worries about the global economic outlook. Crude oil is trading lower on NYMEX today. We expect further depreciation in the prices on anticipation of increase in the oil production in today's meeting.
A rise in interest rates in May in line with the forecast may induce further interest rate hike. Worries over monetary tightening in China and concerns over slowing economic growth weighed on the base metals. Copper fell in LME and Shanghai; however, continuing strike in Chile’s El Teniente mine provided some support. Crude oil slid extending the previous session fall on concerns over global economic growth. Rising oil output from Saudi Arabia added pressure. Nymex crude oil was down more than one per cent and is on a nearly $20 discount to Brent crude. Gold edged lower and silver shed more than one per cent in spite of a weak dollar.
In London, Brent crude fell USD 791 to settle at USD 118.7857 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Natural gas bucked the trend, adding 8.39 cents to settle at USD 4.7576 per 1,000 cubic feet.
