Commodities: Oil declines, metals mixed ahead of Fed meeting

London (Jan 27)  Oil prices were receding late on Monday after rebounding slightly in the day, while gold and metal futures were mixed ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting.

 At the end of Monday's session, Brent futures fell 1.3% to $48.18 while ICE WTI futures dropped 0.4% to $45.18.

CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler said: "Oil prices lifted off multi-year lows on Monday but the threat of slow international growth and a strong dollar resulting from monetary policy weakening the euro and yen means probability favours new lows this week.

 "The Brent - WTI premium has widened from Friday after the possibility of a change in Saudi oil policy from the new King went against the large crude inventory build-up in the US."

 Meanwhile, gold futures were falling 1% in the afternoon to $1,281.25, after the Greek election result created some market volatility.

IG analyst Chris Beauchamp said: "It looks as if gold's good run has come to an end, however, now that Mario Draghi's plans are in the open. QE expectations generated an impressive run for the metal but unless the Fed turns dovish on Wednesday the party looks to have ended for now."

 Copper rebounded slightly after poor Chinese manufacturing figures dampened prices the previous session. On LME, three-month copper futures rose 1% to $5,597.50.

Source: ShareCast