Commodity Opening Bell 

Bullion - Opens on negative Note Gold -28250-28240 Silver -37600-37620

Energy - Opens on positive Note Crude Oil -2975-2977 Natural Gas -198-198.30 

Base Metals - Opens on negative Note Copper -388-388.40 Nickel -621-622 Lead -144.20-144.60 Zinc - 178.60-178.80 Aluminium -122.70-122.80

COMMODITY FUNDAMENTAL NEWS

Precious metals are likely to open flat after staging a strong rally yesterday as the dollar weakened after another failure to push through the healthcare reform in the US. The dollar is trading near 10-month lows as the Trump administration failed to repeal Obamacare and that has cast doubts on his economic agenda. The dollar was already under pressure from last week following weaker inflation and retail sales data in June. The probability of a December rate hike is down to 43% from 50% a few days ago. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan's top gold producer Anglo Asian Mining’s first-half output fell 31.4% year-on-year to 23,218 ounces while Silver output declined to 85,087 ounces from 90,782 ounces. On the ETF side, SPDR holdings continue to see outflows and gold holdings are down over 25 tonnes so far this month. From a trading perspective, the bias for gold and silver is likely to remain positive this week and the ECB meeting may likely provide further triggers for price. 

Crude oil prices are likely to open lower after a choppy session yesterday as API reported a surprise increase in US inventories last week. Data show that US oil stocks rose by 1.6 million barrels and that is likely to weigh on prices until we get confirmation from official EIA data later today. New forecasts suggest that US shale output will touch a record 5.58 million bpd in August. Libyan oil production has surpassed 1 million bpd while Ecuador is not complying with production cuts due to its high fiscal deficit. This is likely to keep prices capped. On the downside, a weaker dollar coupled with another disruption in Nigerian exports could provide support to prices.