On Friday oil futures saw the biggest rally in six years after minutes from the U.S. central bank September meeting suggested the regulator was in no hurry to raise interest rates and an influential forecaster predicted a price rally.
World stocks also rallied Friday, on course for their biggest weekly rise in four years.
Overall relief that the Fed possibly won't hike until some time next year saw investors take on more risk across the board, with commodities in particular regaining ground to chalk up their biggest gains in six years.
Brent crude oil was on track for its biggest weekly rise since March 2009, while zinc soared 9 percent - its biggest daily gain for seven years - after troubled mining giant Glencore said it would cut production.
Meanwhile, Glencore shares themselves surged 13.10%, meaning they were up 41 percent on the week - their biggest weekly gain since being floated in mid-2011 - and doubling from the trough hit just two weeks ago.
The Fed minutes revealed the extent to which policymakers are concerned that a global economic slowdown might threaten the U.S. economic outlook. Though they said overseas turmoil had not "materially altered" economic prospects, they chose to stand pat on the current policy last month.
An unexpectedly weak U.S. jobs report for September last week had led many market participants to bet that the Fed will not deliver its first hike since 2006 until 2016, a feeling that was strengthened by the minutes.
Brent was last up 0.97% on the day at $53.57 a barrel, and U.S. crude was up 1.73% at $50.29 a barrel. Oil also got a boost overnight after forecaster PIRA Energy Group predicted crude prices would rise to $70 per barrel by the end of 2016.
ANZ raised its 2016 forecast for WTI crude by an average of 10 percent, saying it saw a quicker run-down in U.S. crude stocks as a valid reason for the upgrade. It raised its WTI estimate for the third quarter of 2016, for example, to $47 a barrel from $41.
Analysts at Swiss-based consultancy Petromatrix were more wary on further gains on the commodity, Reuters says.
Three-month zinc futures were up 10 percent on the London Metal Exchange at $1,844 a tonne after Glencore said it will cut production by 500,000 tonnes, equivalent to 4 percent of the world's output.
Zinc had fallen 30 percent since May to a five-year low, so the rebound could mark the bottom of the market and the commodities complex in general, some analysts said.
Credit: mql5.com
No comments:
Post a Comment