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Brent crude oil saw a slight rise this week as gold, silver and copper took hits.
Gold is headed for its fifth weekly drop in the last six weeks, and on Friday hit a two-month low as the US dollar climbed to an 11-year high and speculation circulated of a rate increase.
Spot gold was down almost 2 percent, hitting $1,175.40 an ounce for the week, Reuters said. Meanwhile, US gold for April delivery was down $17.80 an ounce, settling at $1,178.30.
“We have the negative correlation with the dollar back on track and that has been hurting the sentiment this week,” Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy for Saxo Bank, told the news outlet.
Silver had a rough week as well, falling to $15.89 an ounce, its lowest level in two months.
Meanwhile, copper is also facing its biggest decline in weeks, and sank 0.5 percent to hit $5,804 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange, according to another Reuters article. Grant Sporre, an analyst at Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB), told the source the copper market is still in a lull following Chinese New Year. Additionally, copper inventories rose by 4,675 tonnes to total 323,050 tonnes, the highest level since January 2014.
“We’re (still) in a surplus for this year and next … even though mining companies have downgraded guidance and we’ve had 170,000 tonnes worth of disruptions so far this year,” Sporre said.
Copper on the COMEX fell $0.03 to hit $2.64, according to MarketWatch.
On the other hand, Brent crude oil saw an increase of $0.20 a barrel to hit $60.68. Reuters notes that the increase came after fighting in Libya and Iraq sparked output concerns. Faltering security in Libya has led to the closure of 11 oil fields.
“Supply disruptions have certainly come back into focus for now,” Virendra Chauhan, an oil analyst at Energy Aspects, told Reuters. “Libya is noteworthy because militant attacks on infrastructure are increasing.”