Natural Gas extends gains on bullish supply data, chilly weather reports

                     Natural gas futures were up in mid-session trading on Monday though off earlier 6-week highs after investors priced in bullish supply data and frosty weather reports into trading and softened a multi-session rally.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in April traded at USD3.643 per million British thermal units, up 0.37%.

The commodity hit a session low of USD3.591 and a high of USD3.647.
Weather forecasting models continued to indicate that colder weather will stay in place for the heavily populated eastern half of the country and hike demand for heating in households and businesses.

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Precious and Industrial Metals Weak On Chinese Worries

 Gold ended with a minor gain after a remaining range-bound, finding some support at lower levels to break out of their recent trading range but scored the highest settlement so far this month. Gold closed at 1578.00 and added $4.20 this morning following its usual pattern of adding in the Asian session and giving back some of the gains throughout the day and remaining flat for the balance of the day. There is very little guidance for precious metals.

Gold swung between gains and losses in New York as investors weighed data showing an improving US economy against signs Europe’s debt crisis is continuing. Global equities reached the highest since June 2008 and the dollar traded near a seven-month high against six counterparts on signs the US economy is strengthening. Physical buying interest in Southeast Asia was slow, as customers waited for a clear price direction. Gold holdings of SPDR gold trust, declined to 1,236.73 tons yesterday, while silver holdings of ishares silver trust increased to 10,646.48 tons. Silver is trading at 28.99 adding close to 14 cents this morning.

Copper inched higher Monday as continued strength in U.S. equity markets and a weaker dollar eclipsed concerns about slower industrial production and metal demand from China. A mid-morning reversal in U.S. equities, which shook off early morning losses to move higher, gave copper prices a boost. Copper and equities tend to move in the same direction as both assets are highly sensitive to shifts in economic outlook. A weaker dollar, which slipped against a basket of international currencies, also gave copper futures some support. Copper is traded in dollars and, as the dollar falls, it becomes less expensive for investors who use other currencies to buy the metal, drawing them to the market as buyers. Earlier in the day, copper prices had retreated on concerns that China’s appetite for the metal would slow. China is the world’s largest consumer of copper, accounting for about 40% of global demand. Data showed Chinese industrial output in the January-February period rose 9.9% from a year earlier, missing forecasts of 10.5% growth. Industrial activity during the first two months of the year also slowed from December’s 10.3% on-year increase.

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Crude Oil Eases Natural Gas Gains During Asian Session

                                               Crude oil dipped a bit this morning after lower than expected retail sales and industrial production numbers from China over the weekend disappointed traders. Crude is trading at 9180 down by 15 pips, after gaining on Friday on the back of the nonfarm payroll release. The jobs data showed the US created more jobs than forecast and unemployment tumbled to 7.7% supporting theories that the US economy was beginning to show a stronger recovery. On Friday crude oil climbed to trade at just under 92.00 but remained in the 91-92$ range. Crude oil futures closed near $92 per barrel and gained more than 1% for the week, as strong import data out of China and a jump in US nonfarm payrolls offered positive signals for demand, outweighing pressure from a rise in the dollar. The dollar rose versus most of its major peers as signs of a strengthening recovery in the world’s biggest economy boosted demand for the U.S. currency.

Fundamental data showed that Indian importers have halted shipments from Iran, as insurance companies are refusing to cover the refineries that process imported crude oil due to Western-imposed sanctions on Iran. Saudi Aramco cut April official selling prices for its Asian buyers for all but its Arab Super Light grade, while Abu Dhabi National Oil Co raised retroactive OSPs for all but its heavy grade for February. Leading oil exporter Saudi Arabia pumped 9.15 million barrels per day of crude oil in February, an industry source reported over the weekend, slightly up from the 9.05 million bpd it produced in January.

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MARCH-13th INTRADY LEVELS FOR MCX COMMODITY MARKET

12-MARCH-2013	RESISTANCE LEVELS	SUPPORT LEVELS

COMMODITY	RES-1	RES-2	RES-3	SUP-1	SUP-2	SUP-3
ALUMINIUM	105.80	106.70	107.50	104.10	103.30	102.40
COPPER	427.60	429.60	432.55	422.65	419.70	417.70
CRUDEOIL	5010	5041	5069	4951	4923	4892
GOLD	29414	29507	29564	29264	29207	29114
LEAD	120.40	121.60	122.60	118.20	117.20	116.00
NATURALGAS	199.60	200.90	202.80	196.40	194.50	193.20
NICKEL	921.20	926.50	936.20	906.20	896.50	891.20
SILVER	54930	55266	55513	54347	54100	53764
ZINC	107.40	108.80	110.20	104.60	103.20	101.80

For More Details Please Visit WWW.MCXFREETIPS.COM

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Oil falls on news of Saudi Production Increase

            Oil futures are trading slightly lower in the early part of Monday’s Asian session, perhaps being forced to the downside on news of an expected production increase by Saudi Arabia. 

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for April deliver are off 0.20% to USD91.77 per barrel in Asian trading Monday. 

Last week, New York-traded oil futures tacked on 1.1%, the first weekly gain in three, helped by a surprisingly strong U.S. February jobs report. A report released by the Labor Department last Friday showed U.S. employers added 236,000 new jobs last month and that the unemployment rate fell to 7.7% from 7.9% in January. The U.S. is the world’s largest oil consumer. 

Robust economic activity, particularly in the world’s biggest oil-consuming nations, is often viewed as a positive sign for oil demand and demand for oil byproducts such as diesel and gasoline. 

On Monday, however, oil is trading lower as traders digest news of a production increase from Saudi Arabia, the largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The kingdom is expected to have pumped 9.15 million barrels per day last month, an increase of 100,000 barrels per day. 

In January, Saudi Arabia’s output fell to its lowest levels in nearly two years. OPEC, the 12-nation group that accounts for about 40% of global oil production, collectively pumped 30.7 million barrels per day in February. 

Some analysts expect Saudi Arabia could pump up to 9.6 billion barrels per day at some point this year year, but that would still be below the average of 9.9 million barrels per day seen last year. 

Elsewhere, oil workers in the African nation of Gabon have gone on strike, which could hamper the country’s average output of 240,000 barrels per day. European oil giants Royal Dutch Shell and Total are among the largest producers in Gabon. 

Meanwhile, Brent futures for May delivery fell 0.11% to USD109.86 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange. - investing.com

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Gold off slightly in early Asian trading

             

       Gold futures fell modestly in the early part of Monday’s Asian session following a small increase last week. 

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery fell 0.07% to USD1,575.80 per troy ounce in Asian trading Monday. Last week, gold futures prices posted a modest 0.15% gain. 

Gold prices were likely to find support at USD1,554.80 a troy ounce, the low from February 21 and resistance at USD1,602.20, the high from February 28. 

With U.S. stocks soaring last week, demand for gold has waned as investors have embraced riskier assets. Last week, the S&P 500 advanced 2.2% and is now trading 1% away from its all-time high. For its part, the Dow Jones Industrial Average made a succession of record intraday highs last week. 

Gold futures came under pressure in the U.S. last Friday after the U.S. Department of Labor said the economy added 236,000 jobs in February, beating expectations for a 160,000 increase. The unemployment rate in the world’s largest economy also fell to 7.7% from 7.9%. 

On the bright side for gold bugs, an unemployment rate of 7.7% is still a far cry from 6.5%, the jobless rate where the Federal Reserve has said it will consider boosting U.S. interest rates. Higher interest rates would likely boost the U.S. dollar, in turn imperiling gold, which is denominated in greenbacks. 

U.S. Retail sales on Wednesday and the consumer price index data, due out Friday, will be among the data points traders watch this week. 

Elsewhere, silver for May delivery fell 0.09% to USD28.923 per ounce while copper dropped 0.37% to USD3.501 per ounce. 

Official data released over the weekend showed that consumer prices in China rose 3.2% in February from a year earlier, above expectations for a 3% increase and accelerating sharply from a 2% rate of increase in January. China is the world’s largest copper producer. - investing.com

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Gold higher ahead of U.S. jobs report

Gold futures are looking to end the week in strong fashion and are trading higher in the early of Friday’s Asian session ahead of the February non-farm payroll report due out from the U.S. Labor Department later today.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery rose 0.21% to USD1,578.40 per troy ounce in Asian trading Friday. The yellow metal settled up 0.01% at USD1,575.10 a troy ounce in U.S. trading onThursday.

Gold futures were likely to test support USD1,566.80 a troy ounce, Wednesday's low, and resistance at USD1,1619.40, the high from Feb. 26.

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Precious Metals Under Pressure As Equity Markets Soar

Precious metals prices rose yesterday, but the breakout in Wall Street stocks to new highs and data showing an improving U.S. economy pressurized the precious metal’s safe-haven appeal. The Fed’s Beige Book showed a slow recovery but a positive recovery was underway with an improvement in most sectors. The slowing factor was the “fiscal cliff” and the new payroll tax increases and all the political rhetoric from Washington, held back consumers and businesses. With most of this behind the economy is expected to pick up its pace of recovery. The ADP release yesterday showed that the economy had generated over 198,000 new jobs against estimates of 170,000. This gave a bump to the US dollar and held gold down as the good news on one front can be bad news for central bank speculators as it might push the central bank to lower or terminate its monetary stimulus program. This helped support the US dollar and kept gold on the weak side. Gold is holding at 1580.50 this morning adding a few dollars as traders take advantage of the weak price ahead of central bank decisions today.

Global central bankers are meeting today in Japan, England and Brussels and more stimulus or lower interest rates are expected. This afternoon’s press conference by Mario Draghi is expected to have major market effects.

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"Tug of war" in Gold as Asians buy physical and ETF investors sell

London Gold market report

U.S. dollar prices to buy gold hovered around $1575 per ounce Wednesday morning in London, in line with last week's close, as dealers in Asia reported an increase in demand for physical bullion, in contrast with exchange traded funds, which have continued to see selling, in what one analyst calls a "tug of war" between physical buying and ETF selling.

"Short-term, gold should drift lower to the short-term support line at $1569/65 or even to the previous low at $1555," say technical analysts at Societe Generale.

"Initial support is at 1564.88," adds UBS.

"A break below [that level] would expose $1556.50, the June 28 low and then $1533.70, the May 16, 2012 low." 

Gold in Sterling hovered just below 1045 pounds an ounce for most of this morning, slightly down on the week, while gold in Euros stayed below €1210 an ounce.

Silver meantime hovered around $28.70 an ounce, very slightly up on the week, while other commodities were similarly flat. Stock markets extended yesterday's gains, in contrast with major government bond prices which fell.

"We remain somewhat cautious on gold and silver," says INTL FCStone analyst Ed Meir.

"They could be hit by a downward reversal if and when markets start to decouple from the surging equity markets."

Stock markets in Europe extended gains on Wednesday morning after several major indices closed at multi-year highs Tuesday.

In London, the FTSE 100 posted its highest close since January 2008 yesterday, while over in the US the Dow saw a new all-time record close and the S&P 500 closed at its highest level since October 31 2007, less than 2% off its all-time record close set earlier that month.

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Natural Gas surges to 6-week high on bullish supply data

Natural gas futures surged to a 6-week high earlier Thursday after official data revealed supplies fell more than expected last week.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in April traded at USD3.580 per million British thermal units, up 3.18%.

The commodity hit a session low of USD3.463 and a high of USD3.602.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas storage in the U.S. in the week ending March 1 fell by 146 billion cubic feet, well beyond market expectations for a drop of 134 billion cubic feet.

Inventories fell by 92 billion cubic feet in the same week a year earlier, while the five-year average change for the week represented a decline of 107 billion cubic feet.

Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 2.083 trillion cubic feet as of last week. Stocks were 361 billion cubic feet less than last year at this time and 269 billion cubic feet above the five-year average of 1.814 trillion cubic feet for this time of year.

The report showed that in the East Region, stocks were 73 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, following net withdrawals of 77 billion cubic feet.

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