Commodity prices of all kinds, from oil, coal, iron and steel to agricultural products, continued to plunge at the end of the last session of the week, Friday, October 22, in a correction trend after the recent strong price increase. .
Coal fell sharply
Coal prices fell sharply in the last session of the week as the Chinese Government sought all measures to cool down this commodity. Coking coal on the Dalian Stock Exchange (January term) fell 11.1% to 2,875 CNY (equivalent to 449.80 USD) per tonne at the end of the session, during the session, it decreased to the limit range, down 14. %. For the whole week, prices fell 14%, the biggest drop since May 5 and wiping out gains since late September.
Coke price this session fell 9% to 3,564 CNY/ton.
Oil rose, remained high
Ending the session, Brent rose 92 cents, or 1.1%, to $85.53 per barrel; Overall, the whole week increased by 1%, which is the 7th consecutive week of increase.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil also gained 1.26% this session, or 1.5%, to $83.76 a barrel, not far from a seven-year high hit this week. For the whole week, WTI oil gained 1.7%, the 9th consecutive week of gains.
Oil prices rose as concerns about coal and gas shortages in China, India and Europe spurred some power generation plants to switch from gas to oil and diesel as fuel.
Gold price increases
Gold prices fluctuated sharply in the past session, rising sharply at the beginning of the session but losing half of that gain at the end of the session after the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve (Fed), Jerome Powell, said he expected inflation. will ease next year, and the US central bank is on track to begin easing stimulus measures.
Spot gold ended the week up 0.6 percent to $1,793.82 per ounce, before that price rose 1.7 percent, and for the whole week increased by 1.4 percent. December gold futures rose 0.8 percent to $1,795.80 an ounce.
Mr. Powell said on October 22 that the US central bank should start reducing asset purchases, but should not raise interest rates yet because the job market is still too low.
The Dollar Index recovered some of its early losses following Mr. Powell’s comments.
The price of copper fell
Copper prices continued to decline at the end of the week, pressured by uncertainty about the impact of lower coal prices in China, as speculators sold contracts before the weekend. Last session, the price of this metal also fluctuated strongly, increasing in the morning due to concerns about scarce supply, but turned down from the afternoon.
At the end of the session, three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) fell 1.1% to $9,723 a tonne, after having fallen 3.5% in the previous session – after China announced intervene to cool coal prices.
Iron and steel decrease
Iron and steel prices fell due to the Chinese government’s strong control of coal prices after this recent surge in energy prices.
Iron ore futures on the Dalian bourse fell 1.5% to CNY 690/ton, while iron ore with 62% content of spot imports at China’s seaport fell 62% to $120.5/ton.
Steel price this session also fell due to the decrease in the price of raw materials for steel production. Rebar fell 6.5% to CNY 4,900/mt, the lowest since May 27, hot rolled coil fell 3.7% to CNY 5,308/mt, while stainless steel dropped 2.4% to CNY 20,260 /ton.
Gas increase
U.S. natural gas prices rose about 3% to a one-week high as demand forecasts rose as cooler weather and rising global gas prices boosted U.S. liquefied petroleum gas demand.
While forecasts suggest that temperatures in the US will drop as winter approaches, those forecasts also predict weather will remain milder than usual through at least early November.
The one-month gas futures contract rose 16.5 cents, or 3.2%, to $5,280 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), the highest close since Oct. 15.
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