Positive market sentiment carried forward to Asian session on Monday as US’ employment data came in better than expected. Non-farm payrolls increased +236K, compared with consensus of 158K and a downwardly revised 119K in January. The jobless rate was lowered to 7.7% from 7.9% in January. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added almost +1.0%. In the commodity sector, the front-month contract for WTI crude oil moved sideways at around 91.5 after gaining over the past 2 trading days while the equivalent Brent crude contract likely slipped for a second day as North Sea oil operation returned to normal. Concerning gold prices, the benchmark Comex contract remained clustered around 8-month low above 1550.
China CPI gained +3.2% y/y in February, up from +2.0% in January. Food prices increased +6.0% y/y while non-food prices gained +1.9% y/y. The surge to a 10-month high was mainly driven by seasonal effect, i.e. Lunar New Year. China’s trade surplus shrank to US$15.3B in February, down from US$29.1B a month ago. Exports dropped -25.6% to 139.4B while imports slipped -21.5% to 124.1B. While the trade data came in better than expected, it might have been affected by the Lunar New Year. Exports were usually lower in during the festive season as factories shut down for a week for holiday. On annual basis, exports grew +21.8% y/y while imports dropped +15.2%.
Commitments of Traders:
With the exception of natural gas, speculators were bearish towards the energy complex in the week ended March 5. Net length for crude oil futures slipped -358 contracts to 235 740. Net length for heating oil dropped -8 997 contracts to 17 724 while that for gasoline slid -4 494 contracts to 88 215. Net short for natural gas fell -3 493 contracts to 132 980.
Speculators were bearish towards precious metals during the week. Net length for gold future was down -9 012 contracts to 107 584 while that for silver futures fell -3 134 contracts to 18 603. For PGMs, net length for platinum dropped -2 246 contracts to 39 158 while that for palladium slid -230 contracts to 24 874.
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