Weekly Round-Up: Commodities End Week Mostly Flat

Spot gold was en route to ending the week mostly flat. The yellow metal was trading steadily at $1,294.30 an ounce on Friday, according to Reuters. U.S. gold futures  for June delivery were down slightly on Friday, decreasing $0.50 to $1,294.50 an ounce.

“Gold has been trapped in a very compressed range for well over a month, but we suspect that we could see a substantial move in the days ahead once the Ukrainian elections are over,” financial services company INTL FCStone said in a note.

Likewise, silver failed to make any big moves on Friday with silver spot prices gaining a mere $0.01 to $19.47 an ounce. Silver futures on the other hand slipped ever so slightly with silver for June delivery down $0.04 to $19.48 an ounce on the Comex.

On the London Metal Exchange, copper was given a bump of $34.53 to $6,906.50 a tonne. The optimism from recent reports coming from the U.S. Federal Reserve was tempered by concerns about Chinese factory production.

“Copper remains supported above $6,850 by lower stockpiles and higher premiums for immediate deliveries,” RBC Capital Markets LLC said in a note to Bloomberg.

Copper futures for July delivery on the Comex were up, rising $0.022 to $3.16 a pound, according to Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, Brent crude prices rose by only $0.03 to $110.39 a barrel, according to The Wall Street Journal. Researchers at financial services firm Macquarie believe that a balance on the market between bullish and bearish bets on Brent crude have kept it in a tight range, although they expect there to be a “disruption” of this trend later in the year.