Commodities: Oil prices falter on glut fears as cable dips

Crude-oil futures trotted moderately lower on Tuesday as market concerns over persistent global oversupply of the black liquid encouraged bearish traders to sell.

At about 15:56 BST, Nymex-quoted West Texas Intermediate crude had tiptoed 0.37% south to $42.76 a barrel, while Intercontinental Exchange-priced Brent had ebbed 0.42% to $44.53 a barrel.

FXTM Research analyst Lukman Otunuga said the market's bears indulged in a round of selling on renewed concerns about the global glut, continuing a theme seen yesterday, too.

"For an extended period, oil has remained fundamentally bearish with the recurrent oversupply woes sabotaging any real recovery in value," Otunuga said.

He observed that the growing threat of a renewal in US oil output continued to haunt investor attraction to the asset further, while fears of a decline in demand amid slowing global growth have capped most upside gains.

"This commodity could be poised for steeper losses as the toxic combination of excessive oversupply and fading demand provide a foundation for sellers to attack," Otunuga added.

Added to this, traders were looking to tomorrow's US Federal Reserve interest-rate call, the market expecting it to stand pat with a wait-and-see approach amid post-Brexit uncertainties.

Against this backcloth, sterling was down 0.14% to $1.3122.

At about 15:56 BST, Comex-traded gold was up a slim 0.05% to $1320.1 an ounce, as silver firmed 0.05% to $19.7 an ounce and industrial-staple copper rose 1.05% to $222.75 a pound.

Three-month zinc and tin eked out mild gains, while three-month copper and aluminium were moderately lower.

In agricultural commodities, shortly before 16:00 BST, Chicago Board of Trade-quoted corn was down 0.81% to $338.5 a bushel. CBOT-priced wheat plunged 2.56% to $418 a bushel.

Elsewhere, on ICE, cocoa added 0.77% to $2876 a MT, while cotton No.2 advanced 1.33% to $73.25 a pound. Meantime, live cattle was up 0.45% to $111.58 a pound.