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Commodities: WTI futures higher, Saudi Aramco IPO a 'talking point' in markets

Upon first glance, the commodity patch was quiescent at the end of the week, but a deeper dive revealed quite a bit more.
As of 1903 GMT, the US dollar spot index was edging higher by 0.09% to 90.22, while the Bloomberg commodity index was up by 0.05% to 87.36.

However, beneath the surface energy futures were broadly higher, amid a mix of geopolitical, political and somewhat idiosyncratic factors, according to market commentary.

So, despite booming US shale oil production, as was reflected in the latest set of US industrial production figures released earlier on Friday, investors were also monitoring risks to the Iran nuclear deal after the US Secretary of State was sacked on Wednesday and the IEA's warning the day before that oil balances might tighten as Venezuelan crude output continued to fall.

According to the Federal Reserve, US industrial output jumped by 1.2% month-on-month in February, amid a record 12% year-on-year increase in oil and gas extraction.

That data came as Bloomberg reported that Saudi Aramco might be willing to push back the timing of its initial public offering, among other reasons due to push-back from some US investors over valuation, partly as a result of the ongoing boom in US shale oil.

Against the backdrop provided by that propicious mix of factors, at the end of the week West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were sporting gains of 1.80% to $62.29 a barrel on NYMEX, alongside a rise of 1.09% for RBOB gasoline to $1.9457 a gallon.

Gold futures on the other hand were lower, as were other precious metals, retreating by 0.39% to $1,312.70/oz. on COMEX.

Base metals on the LME were mixed, although three-month copper futures traded down to $6,888 per metric tonne, versus a Thursday close of $6,908 per tonne.

Agricultural commodity prices were also soft, with wheat futures getting thrashed, erasing 2.30% to $4.6775 a bushel on CBoT, alongside a 1.03% retreat in similarly-dated corn futures to $3.8275 a bushel.