I. Precious Metals
Gold
Gold rebounded from this week's 10-month low as the dollar eased against the euro ahead of a European Central Bank meeting that is expected to hint at reducing its bond purchase program. The dollar weakened along with slipping U.S. bond yields as expectations of an interest rates hike by the Federal Reserve had been fully reflected. On technical front, gold still lingered within recent trading range and was kept under $1,180 an ounce. The MACD and momentum index also pointed to a bearish tone. Investors shifted their attention to the ECB’s policy meeting due on Thursday. The yellow metal can hardly see any rebound if the meeting holds its accommodative stance.

Silver
Silver tracked gold’s rising trajectory and outperformed the latter. The chart shows a more optimistic tone. But investors are recommended to stay on the sidelines amid overall headwinds for precious metals.

II. Commodities
Crude Oil
Oil prices slid on Wednesday on bearish U.S. petroleum inventory data and doubts that production cuts promised by OPEC and Russia would be deep enough to end a supply overhang. The U.S. Energy Information Administration EIA said crude inventories fell 2.4 million barrels during the week ended Dec. 2, which was more than the 1 million-barrel draw analysts had forecast in a Reuters poll. Stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for U.S. crude futures, however, increased by a hefty 3.8 million barrels last week, the most since 2009, the data showed. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries last week agreed to slash output by around 1.2 million barrels per day beginning in January and hopes non-OPEC countries will contribute a further 600,000 bpd of cuts. Russia has said it would reduce output by around 300,000 bpd. In addition, Nigeria said on Wednesday it hoped to boost its oil production to 2.1 million bpd in January, up from 1.9 million bpd now.

Copper
Copper kept falling on Wednesday as concerns that the metal's rally had become overstretched outweighed prospects of higher demand from the world's largest economies. Market morale was subdued despite that copper inventories on Wednesday fell to around 230,000 tonnes, according to London Metal Exchange (LME) data, and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is expected to spend more on infrastructure. Three-month copper on the London Metal's Exchange ended 1.7 percent lower at $5,785 a tonne.

Soybean
Soybean futures ended modestly higher after a choppy session, supported by fresh export demand for U.S. soy and reinforced soyoil prices. Chicago Board of Trade soybeans for January delivery finished up 1-1/4 cents at $10.49 a bushel. Investors cashed in the swap trading of long soymeal and short soyoil. January soymeal futures rose $1.4 at $320.5 a tonne. January soyoil futures closed up 11 cents at 37.93 cents.

Dealing Room, ICBC Beijing Branch
Yang Hui

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