Thursday market session was another bullish one for energy prices. Crude and Brent oil climbed by around 2-3% throughout the day, following speculations that Russia and OPEC countries may join forces in order to curb production and push prices to the upside.
Commodity prices continued to benefit from growing risk appetite on Wednesday. Continuous speculations about the possibility of Russian-OPEC cooperation to cut oil production were positively reflected in oil prices.
Commodities used to grow in price on Tuesday, as political news provided some positive ground for gains. Brent and Crude oil surged by 3.7-4.3%, as several oil-producing countries announced they are ready to work together, in order to effectively cut production and find equilibrium between supply and demand.
Markets are questioning ability of the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates four times in 2016, as policymakers had indicated they were planning to do it earlier in December.
Oil prices posted an unbelievable climb on Friday, by rallying the most in many months on the back of anticipated support from central banks.
Central bankers took the centre stage on Thursday and predominantly drove the commodity market alone. ECB President Mario Draghi generated high daily returns for oil, equities and commodity-linked currencies yesterday, while the gains are prolonged through Friday as well.
It seems that volatility in global markets is going to persist for some period of time. Yesterday equities undertook a setback from some stabilisation that has taken place earlier this week.
Two major types of oil and two main precious metals moved in different directions on Tuesday, which is usually a rare event for the commodity market.
Commodities hovered in green on Monday and particular gains were in place for energy components. Natural gas surged by 2.5%, while oil prices recovered moderately with daily increases of 0.8-2% depending on the type of the crude.
Oil prices crashed by around 6% on Friday of the week ended January 15. Worries over Chinese economic growth and oversupply are currently the main anchors for prices of energy.
In spite of rising oil prices on Thursday, this energy component is set to book a weekly loss due to sharp downward price changes earlier during the January 11-15 time period.
As the American Dollar weakened by the end of trading session on Wednesday, precious metals managed to capitalise on this development.
Despite cold winter temperatures, natural gas prices are ticking lower on day-to-day basis. Yesterday futures dropped by 5.8% amid burgeoning inventories and record-high pumping in the US.
Precious metals' prices bounced back on Monday, following gains which had been posted earlier at the end of last week. However, silver and gold lost only 0.5% and 0.9%, accordingly.
Some positive trading on global equity markets used to be a negative sign for precious metals on Friday of the previous week.
Precious metals enjoyed a turmoil occurred in the equity markets across the globe on Thursday. Worldwide stocks extended a decline, which began on Monday of this week, with major American indices dipping down by 5% in just four trading days.
Divergence between precious metals and oil is observed every single day this week. This time the Dollar is not the main driver for commodities, meaning pure fundamental factors are driving each separate component.
Given that uncertainty surrounding Chinese economic stability continues to be kept in mind by investors, both precious metal including gold and silver are managing to benefit from such conditions.
Precious metals were supported by a flight to safety across the board on Monday, as both gold and silver booked healthy gains in course of the first trading session this year. The yellow metal was the day's best performer with an increase of 1.3%, while silver added 0.4% yesterday.
Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East region paved the way for a rally among different commodities including precious metals and oil. The latter skyrocketed by more than 3% for Crude, while Brent added almost 5% on Thursday and during the early Monday trading.
Natural gas has partly erased strong gains from the several previous trading sessions, even despite positive weather forecasts which suggest that colder temperatures are coming to the US. Market concerns are again building around oversupply and weak demand next year.
Natural gas continued to be the leader in terms of daily price gains. It surged further by 5% on Tuesday and by 35% over the past seven trading sessions.
Gold prices have copied Crude and Brent oil at the very beginning of this working week. Broad weakness is dominating the commodity complex at the moment, and a similar situation is estimated to be in place for most of next year.
Commodities strengthened in course of Thursday, a last trading day of the previous week. Natural gas surged by 2.3% during the session, following encouraging US stockpiles report.