Commodity markets retreat on swine flu fears

Commodity prices retreated around the globe as fears grew about the highly contagious swine flue .

Crude oil prices fell. ICE June Brent was down $1.15 to $49.17 a barrel while Nymex June West Texas Intermediate dropped $1.30 to $48.84 a barrel.


“There is a risk that the flu scare will hit international aviation travel, which would have a negative impact on demand for jet fuel,” said Eugen Weinberg at Commerzbank.

He added: “Current low oil prices will cause Opec to maintain current production constraints or take steps to cut back output even further, which supports our view that crude oil will trade at US$70 a barrel by the end of the year."

Soy rose $.03 cents to $10.07 a bushel, steadying only after dropped $.35 cents in yesterdays session.

Copper fell 2.4% to $4,205.50 despite a fall in 5,000 tonnes of stockpiles according to the London Metal Exchange (LME).

Tin lost 3.6%, falling to $11,860 a tonne.

Nickel fell 2.6% to $10,860 a tonne.

Gold dropped below its 900 level to a spot price of $898 a troy ounce.

James Steel of HSBC said the gold market had failed to react positively to news of the swine flu outbreak for two important reasons.

“First, investors flocked mainly into the dollar and other safe haven currencies, rather than into gold. The subsequent rally in the dollar weighed on gold prices.