Commodities: Moderate gains in bulk metals after volatility during Chinese session

Commodities were little changed overall in early afternoon trading despite sharp gains overnight in the prices for several key steel-making ingredients during Chinese trading hours.

January futures for coking coal in China reached a high of 1,288 yuan a tonne, for a 4% gain, while the most heavily traded rebar futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange hit a two-month high of 2,568 yuan a tonne at one point during the session.

In parallel, iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose by 6%, the maximum daily limit allowed, to 471.50 yuan a tonne, their best mark since August 2014.

Some market commentary attributed the spike in futures prices to firm demand for steel in China, amid low inventories, and a shortage for some key ingredients such as coking coal.

For their part, analysts at SP Angel ascribed the gains in iron ore to improved sentiment driven by positive quarterly earnings results from Chinese steelmakers.

However, as of 1330 BST three-month LME-traded copper futures were edging higher by just 0.1% to $4,638 a metric tonne.

Similarly-dated nickel futures were advancing 0.4% to $10,000 per metric tonne.

Zinc was the best performer, gaining 1.1% to $2,312 a tonne.

Soft commodities were doing best, with cocoa futures on Euronext LIFFE gaining 0.7% to £2,246 a

Bloomberg´s commodity index was trading flat at 86.15 while the US dollar index was edging higher by 0.23% to 98.98.