This week has seen a range of commodities fall after economic news was disappointing for both Europe and China.
The HSBC PMI manufacturing index in China declined to 48.1 from 49.6 in February, while Markit’s European composite purchasing managers’ index fell to 48.8 in March from 49.3 in February. Anything below 50 tends to suggest a contraction.
Advertisement
The price of WTI oil was down $1.92 earlier to $105.35 per barrel earlier, while Brent Crude dropped by $1.06 to end yesterday at $123.14 per barrel.
Copper is on track for a weekly fall on the LME, although it picked up earlier today after dropping as low as $8,262 to $8,393.
Aluminium also picked up after falling to reach $2,178, while lead was just above the $2,000 level at $2,014.
