Commodities: NYMEX gasoline futures probe two-year highs
By Alexander Bueso
Date: Wednesday 30 Aug 2017
(ShareCast News) - Commodities came under pressure as the greenback rebounded, albeit with gasoline futures probing two year highs on the back of disruptions from hurricane Harvey.
As of 1905 BST, the Bloomberg commodity index was lower by 0.55% to 83.04 as the US dollar spot index bounced back by 0.66% to 83.04.
Against that backdrop, September 2017 RBOB gasoline futures on NYMEX climbed 3.68% to $1.8490 a gallon as Harvey moved inland over southwestern Louisiana, leading Motiva Enterprises to begin a controlled shutdown of its operations.
That may have been partially reflected in the latest set of Department of Energy figures which revealed a 5.4m barrel drop in US oil stockpiles during the week ending on 25 August, as oil refineries ramped-up production and imports were significantly curtailed.
Yet gasoline stockpiles were unchanged, according to the DoE.
Despite those figure, and as a result of lessened demand in the wake of the mayhem wrought by Harvey, WTI futures came off by 0.84% to $46.05 a barrel.
Front month Brent futures were also lower, falling 2.06% to $50.94 a barrel.
In the precious metals space, December gold on Comex continued retracing some of its recent ill-gotten gains on the back of the geopolitical tensions around the Korean peninsula, with the December 2017 contract off by 0.40% to $1,313.60/oz.. on COMEX.
However, analysts were not wholly convinced that tensions might not flare up again.
"Rebounds are just part and parcel of market movements, and it is important not to underestimate the seriousness of the situation. Traders may be content to pick up relatively cheap stocks today, but we have seen similar buying spurts fizzle out in recent months," said David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
Agricultural futures were also mostly softer, with CBoT corn down 0.86% at $3.4575 a bushel and ICE-traded cocoa 1.79% lower to $1,924 per metric tonne.
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