Market news: Commodities sell off on Turkey crisis

A
worker pours melted copper into a furnace at the KGHM Copper and
Precious Metals smelter and processing plant in Glogow May 10,
2013.
Peter
Andrews/Reuters

• Commodity prices across the board sell off on emerging
  market crisis contagion fears and a stronger dollar.
• Industrial metals in particular are suffering, with
  copper falling to its lowest level in more than a
  year.
• Oil is also falling, pushed lower by a combination of
  contagion and rising inventories.
• 
  You can track
  the latest movements at Markets Insider.
  

Commodities across the board are selling off on Wednesday as the
emerging market currency crisis continues to wreak havoc in
global markets.

Metals in particular are suffering as a higher dollar caused by
the EM currency sell-off pushes commodity prices sharply lower.

Copper is being hit, dropping to a low not seen in over a
year. The industrial metal, used in electronics and wiring, is
down by close to 4% at 11.50 a.m. BST (6.50 a.m. ET), trading at
just $5,884 per metric tonne, according
to Markets Insider data. It has not been below $6,000 since
summer 2017.

Other metals are also feeling the pain, with aluminium down 3%,
lead losing 2.9%, and platinum falling 3.3% on the day.

Here’s the scoreboard for industrial metals:

Markets Insider

Oil is also having a bad day, dropping thanks to a combination of
emerging market woes, and news out of Saudi Arabia that it is
considering ending recent increases in production.

Prices per barrel for
West Texas Intermediate oil are down 0.86% to $66.06.

“There are signs that the dominant OPEC member sees risks
of a return to oversupply,” Ken Odeluga, market analyst at City
Index said in an email.

“With global cyclical indicators beginning to warn in
chorus that growth outside of the United States will become more
uneven and slower on approach to 2019, oil demand is expected to
moderate, at least.”

Odeluga pointed in particular to the recent data on
increasing oil stocks in the USA. On Monday, for
instance, data from market research firm Genscape showed
inventories at the Cushing delivery hub for WTI rose by 1.7
million barrels in the week ending August 10.

Commodity prices dislike a strong dollar, and thanks to the
growing crisis in Turkey, which risks contagion in other emerging
markets, the greenback has rallied sharply in recent days.
The
Dollar Index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of
currencies, has risen close to 2% in the last week, and is
trading at its highest level since last June.