Crude oil near $55/bbl

MUMBAI: Looking at the Asian markets closing, it seems that the Japanese economy entering into recession had limited impact on sentiment. Commodities markets, too, replicated the trend in the equities markets. Leading commodities counters maintained steady trend as currency markets turned favourable. Crude oil was the only counter that witnessed pressure.

Nymex crude oil December contract slipped once again as the Japanese economy contracted 0.4% in the September quarter, and entered into recession for the first time since 2001.

Crude oil fell to $55.49 per barrel as demand concerns resurfaced. The contract was last offered at $55.61 per barrel, down 2.5%. Last week, the European region technically entered into the recession, which caused a slide in crude oil prices to the lowest level since January 2007.

MCX crude oil December contract lost over 1% to Rs 2,833 per barrel. The lower decline in MCX contract compared to Nymex was due to the recovery of the rupee against the US dollar.

In London, gold bounced above $745 an ounce on positive currency moves. As the US dollar arrested its slide against the euro, the yellow metal was last offered at $743.50 per ounce, up $3.4. Silver was last offered at $9.53 per ounce, up $0.04. Platinum turned lower after having stayed in positive zone for most of the session. Earlier in the day, platinum was quoted $14 higher but the sluggish economic outlook pushed the metal $13 lower to the current level of $829 per ounce.

Copper fell more than 5% on Monday dragging other metals including zinc and lead. Weak demand outlook pushed LME copper for 3-month delivery to a session low of $3,620 per tonne. Zinc was down at $1,155 per tonne, and lead slipped to $1,290 per tonne.

MCX base metals maintained soft tone... most counters were trading lower... MCX copper for November settlement was last quoted 3% lower at Rs 181.20 per kg. Lead and zinc lost over 2% each while nickel was down 3.5%.

Agri-commodities opened lower, and kept sliding on increased arrival and sluggish demand outlook. Soybean prices ended lower while coriander settled at the lower limit. NCDEX soybean December contract after moving between Rs 1,577 and Rs 1,527 ended the day at Rs 1,531 per 100 kg. NCDEX turmeric maintained a firm trend, and the December settlement contract settled the session limit up at Rs 3,902 per 100 kg. MCX coriander contract ended at the lower limit of circuit. The December contract ended at Rs 7,428 per 100kg, down 4%.