Weekly Round-Up: Commodities Hit Weekly, Monthly Lows

Commodities experienced losses this week as speculation over the US Federal Reserve tapering its stimulus program and fears of a US military strike on Syria weighed on investors.

Gold fell to its lowest level in more than a month at the end of the week. On Sept. 13, spot gold hit $1,304.56 an ounce – the lowest price seen since Aug. 8. Gold futures for December delivery were also down to their lowest since Aug. 9, Reuters reported, at $1,312.14 an ounce. Mitsubishi analyst Jonathan Butler said he is almost certain these low prices are the result of expected stimulus tapering.

Gold prices were weak throughout the last five days, but reached $1,365 an ounce on Sept. 10, Reuters reported.

Silver, too, has been down. The metal fell to a one-month low of $21.35 an ounce today before recovering slightly to $21.73 an ounce. The metal lost around 10 percent this week alone – its biggest weekly loss since mid-April.

On Sept. 12, copper reached a one-week low of $7,091.25 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange, due to rising unemployment and reduced industrial production around the world, Bloomberg reported. Today it slumped even lower, reaching $7,060 a tonne on the LME. Bloomberg reported analysts expect copper to continue to fall next week.

Brent crude oil also fell significantly this week, with benchmark Brent crude futures for October at $111.60 a barrel, down $1.03 a barrel. Reuters said this is the steepest weekly decline for Brent crude in almost three months.

Brent crude was up when it seemed as if the US would take military action against Syria, the source said. However, as tensions have eased, crude prices have fallen.

“It’s not surprising oil prices are falling as the Middle East risk premium diminishes,” Carsten Fritsch, senior oil and commodities analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt, told Reuters.