Commodity markets start week down amid issues in China

By Burhan Sansarlioglu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Commodity markets started the week trending negative amid nationwide protests against China’s zero-COVID policy.

Protests against pandemic measures spread throughout the country after 10 people died in a fire in an apartment reportedly under quarantine in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The demonstrations caused concerns about economic activity and boosted risk perception around the world.

Analysts said the risk perception pushed up global demand for US dollars and suppressed commodity prices, adding that labor force data to be released in the US this week will weigh heavily on expectations before the Fed's monetary policy decision in December.

With these developments, the price of an ounce of gold fell 0.5% to $1,746, with silver also down 2%.

Base metals also started the week losing value; copper, which fell 1.2% to $3.58 per pound, later rose and stabilized at $3.63, up 0.2%.

Aluminum dropped 0.8%, zinc 1.2%, and lead 0.7%.

The price of Brent oil price dropped 2.9% to $80.87, its lowest level since January.

Natural gas traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange last week rose 11.4%.

Natural gas prices soared on forecasts of lower temperatures and fears that US railway workers might go on strike.

A downward trend was also dominant in agricultural commodities. Wheat traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange fell 1.9% to $7.82, corn fell 0.9% to $6.65, and soybeans fell 0.9% to $142.24.

Cotton also lost 2.3% to $0.7864.

*Writing by Gokhan Ergocun​​​​​​​