I. Precious Metals
Gold

Gold prices rose from six-month lows on Friday as the dollar slipped, but the modest nature of the recovery suggested speculators might still be poised to punish the metal further.

Spot gold gained 0.2 percent at $1,268.76 per ounce, headed for a 0.8 percent weekly drop. In the prior session, bullion touched $1,260.84, its lowest since Dec. 19, 2017. U.S. gold futures for August delivery settled up 20 cents, 0.02 percent, at $1,270.70 per ounce.

A weaker greenback makes dollar-denominated gold cheaper for holders of other currencies. In Asia, gold demand picked up in most centers this week, with bullion selling at a premium in India for the first time in seven weeks.

Silver

Silver was up 0.8 percent at $16.44 an ounce after falling to its lowest since May 2 at $16.16 in the previous session, headed for a 0.3 percent weekly drop.

On chart, silver is drawing near to the support since February, a level we believe that can be hardly breached below. Investors can keep following its rebounding tendency.

II. Commodities
Crude Oil

Oil prices soared on Friday after oil producers agreed to modest crude output increases to compensate for losses in production at a time of rising global demand.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other top crude producers, meeting in Vienna, agreed to raise output from July by about 1 million barrels per day (bpd). The real increase, however, will be around 770,000 bpd, according to Iraq, because several countries that recently suffered production declines will struggle to reach full quotas, while other producers may not be able to fill the gap.

Brent crude settled up $2.50, or 3.4 percent, to $75.55 a barrel. U.S. crude rose $3.04, or 4.6 percent, to $68.58 a barrel, getting an additional boost after a surprise large drawdown at the storage hub at Cushing, Oklahoma. Brent crude was up 2.7 percent on the week, while U.S. crude was up 5.5 percent.

Copper

Copper prices clocked a second week of falls on fears a trade war between Washington and Beijing would hit demand. LME three-month copper closed flat at $6,789 a tonne but ended the week down 3.2 percent.

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 20 percent tariff on all European Union-assembled cars coming into the United States on Friday. The global refined copper market had a surplus of 55,000 tonnes in March and 87,000 tonnes in February, the International Copper Study Group said.

We believe that the pullback in the dollar could be temporary. A stronger dollar would keep copper prices in check.

Soybean

U.S. soybean futures posted losses for the fourth straight week as the short-covering by traders ahead of weekend failed to recover this week’s losses. July soybeans settled up 14 cent at $8.94-1/4 a bushel. Soybeans ended 1.2 percent lower on the week, after plunging to their lowest price in nearly a decade earlier this week on worries about favorable weather and concerns over trade disputes. Traders said that they will closely watch the USDA’s estimates due Friday on planting area and inventory.

Dealing Room, ICBC Beijing Branch
                        Li Nan