I. Precious Metals
Gold
Gold rose to its highest in nearly four weeks on Friday. On technical front, it failed to break away from previous trading range at $1,260, showing limited upward momentum. On fundamentals, political uncertainty led investors to favor bullion over assets considered riskier such as stocks. Leaders of the world's rich nations face difficult talks with Donald Trump at a G7 summit in Sicily on Friday after the U.S. president lambasted NATO allies and condemned German trade policies a day earlier. Uncertainty in the markets in general supports gold. The dollar index remained at bottom, providing a floor to gold. Technically, gold steadied at the 50-day moving average, with support at the 200-day moving average. Gold is expected to test $1,280 in near term.

Silver
Silver tracked gold, up to the upper bollinger band. A successful breakthrough could open up an upward space. But the 50-day, 100-day and 200-day will weigh on silver. Its performance need to be driven by gold.

II. Commodities
Crude Oil
Oil prices rebounded to rise more than 1 percent on Friday, but Brent crude ended the week nearly 3 percent lower after an OPEC-led decision to extend production curbs did not go as far as many investors had hoped. Brent futures settled up 69 cents to $52.15 a barrel, or 1.3 percent, after hitting a session low of $50.71. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled at $49.80 a barrel, gaining 90 cents or 1.8 percent, after hitting an intra-day low at $48.18. On Thursday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers pledged to continue output cuts of 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) for another nine months, through the first quarter of 2018. But compared with the increase in U.S. output, the OPEC’s output cut deal cannot directly cut oil supply. As a result, oil prices can hardly move up substantially.

Copper
Copper pulled back from the previous session's three-week high on Friday as momentum sparked by a strike at one of the world's biggest copper mines, Indonesia's Grasberg, eased ahead of the long weekend break in China, the U.S. and Britain. Freeport McMoRan Inc said on Thursday that mining and milling rates at Grasberg had been affected by an extended strike and that a "large number" of about 4,000 absentee workers were deemed to have resigned. Dutch bank ING said in a note that Freeport has about 100,000 tonnes of copper stocks that could be used to meet demand in the near term. The metal remains rangebound as people are prepared to buy the dips, and are also prepared to sell the rallies.

Soybean
U.S. soybean futures fell to a 13-month low on Friday as wet weather in the Midwestern crop belt was likely to slow the final phases of corn planting. Some traders sold soybeans and bought corn as slowing corn planting would prompt some farmers to switch to soybeans. U.S. farmers typically plant corn first since it has a longer growing season than soybeans. A record-large soybean harvest in Brazil continued to weigh on soybean prices, which fell for the fourth straight session. The trading volume of soybean, soymeal and soyoil stood at 166.007 lots, 71,593 lots and 90,332 lots respectively.

Dealing Room, ICBC Beijing Branch
Cheng Yu