Commodities Update Commodities back in favour Investors have turned more positive on the outlook for commodity prices in the last month, reflected in a general rise in net-long futures positions. Sentiment has improved on the back of strong... 19th July 2017 · 1 min read
India Economics Update Bond market takes RBI intervention in its stride The bond market has taken the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) surprise announcement of increased open market sales of government securities in its stride, with yields on local-currency debt remaining... 19th July 2017 · 1 min read
Metals Watch Cheers for silver on hold Despite relatively strong demand from industrial applications and dwindling mine supply, the price of silver has recently fallen to the lowest level since April 2016. In this Metals Watch, we look at... 14th July 2017 · 1 min read
Metals Data Response South Africa’s Mine Production (May) PGM output continued to fall in May as years of underinvestment have started to take their toll on production. The release of the new Mining Charter, if unchanged, is only likely to worsen what is... 13th July 2017 · 1 min read
Precious Metals Update How will South Africa’s mining charter affect PGM output? South Africa’s controversial new mining charter will probably exacerbate the decline in the PGM sector. Higher costs, in tandem with lower foreign investment, could weigh on PGM production going... 3rd July 2017 · 1 min read
Metals Data Response China and India’s gold imports (May) The latest trade data show gold imports moved in opposing directions in the two largest consumers last month. The fall in China’s gold imports suggests weaker underlying demand, while India’s imports... 26th June 2017 · 1 min read
Precious Metals Update Is palladium flying too close to the sun? Increased speculative activity appears to have been the main driver of the recent surge in the price of palladium, which reached a sixteen-year high of $910 per ounce on 9th June. However... 21st June 2017 · 1 min read
Commodities Weekly The losing streak continues It has been a poor week for most commodity prices. The Fed’s decision to hike interest rates on Wednesday weighed on the prices of gold and industrial metals. Oil prices continued to drop, partly due... 16th June 2017 · 1 min read
Commodities Update Gold’s luck to run out The price of gold was largely unaffected by the Fed’s decision to raise its policy rate target by 25bp, to between 1.00% and 1.25%, yesterday. While many have attributed the resilience in the gold... 15th June 2017 · 1 min read
Metals Focus Short-term and long-term determinants of India’s gold demand India is one of the world’s largest consumers of gold and relies solely on imports to meet domestic gold demand. This has, at times, resulted in a deepening of the country’s current account deficit... 14th June 2017 · 1 min read
Metals Data Response South Africa’s Mine Production (Apr.) PGM output had a strong start to the year but the latest figures suggest that it has already started to wane. We expect production to fall in the remainder of the year as the platinum price treads... 8th June 2017 · 1 min read
Metals Chart Pack Precious metals outperform The prices of precious metals benefitted from a weaker US dollar and heightened safe-haven demand in May. In addition, markets are pricing in only a limited Fed tightening over the next eighteen... 6th June 2017 · 1 min read
Commodities Weekly A case of the jitters hits commodity markets Oil prices have continued to fall on fears that the OPEC supply cuts will not be sufficient to clear the excess in the market. In addition, a weak May unofficial PMI reading out of China on Thursday... 2nd June 2017 · 1 min read
Metals Data Response China and India’s gold imports (Apr.) The latest trade data show a jump in gold imports in the two largest consumers last month. India’s imports soared ahead of the forthcoming Goods and Services Tax (GST), while the strength of China’s... 25th May 2017 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Metals prices could fall sharply as sentiment turns Sentiment towards metals has deteriorated somewhat since the start of 2017. We had warned that this could happen as the large investor inflows into metals markets last year were mostly premised on... 24th May 2017 · 1 min read
Metals Focus Platinum: Short-term pain, Long-term gain Given our outlook for US monetary policy this year and next, we expect the weakness in the price of platinum to persist through most of 2017-18. However, further ahead, we think that platinum will... 15th May 2017 · 1 min read
