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Commodities: Gains for grains offset by reversal in WTI futures on Genscape data

Commodities as a whole pushed higher on Thursday, buoyed by large across-the-board gains for agriculture futures.
ICE-traded cotton#2 futures were faring best, with the May 2018 contract putting on 3.77% to trade at $0.8264 a pound, alongside a 2.37% move higher to $1.0475 a pound for live cattle futures.

Among grains, over on the Chicago Board of Trade corn futures for May delivery were up by 2.17% to $3.8935 a bushel, while wheat was tacking on 1.87% to $4.6425 a bushel.

Soybean futures, which were facing the risk of retaliatory Chinese trade tariffs were also gaining ground, advancing 1.58% to $10.3125 per bushel.

Similarly-dated cocoa futures on ICE were also up, bouncing 1.33% to $2,508 per metric tonne.

Orange futures alone were trading lower come Thursday evening.

In the metals space, copper was another big gainer, with the May contract on COMEX tacking on 1.76% and changing hands at $3.0625 a pound - thanks to reduced concerns over the ongoing trade tensions globally, particularly between Beijing and Washington.

"With Chinese traders on 2 day holiday, market conditions today were thin but prices were a little firmer in early trading on signs that the US and China may be seeking negotiations on trade tariffs which have roiled the financial markets in recent days.

"5pm LME closes were, in the end, mostly up on the day but turnover was low/mod," said analysts at Sucden Financial.

The bid in the US dollar on the other hand was sapping strength in gold, with the June 2018 COMEX futures slipping 0.87% to $1,328.60 in response.

As of 1927 BST, the US dollar spot index was higher by 0.37% to 90.478 points, alongside a 0.60% jump in the Bloomberg commodity index to 87.1376.

Energy futures on the other hand were trading between little changed to lower, with WTI futures for next month delivery dipping after reports surfaced, citing Genscape, of a 2.5m barrel inventory build over the week ending on 3 April at the key US oil hub located at Cushing, Oklahoma.

That report led to a reversal in WTI futures on the back of an earlier report that Saudi had unexpectedly increased its official selling prices for May.