Commodities Round-up: Gold spikes on Bank of England rate cut, oil remains 20% below June prices

Gold futures rallied on safe-haven sentiment on Thursday (4 August), after the Bank of England (BoE) decided to cut UK interest rates by 25 basis points to a record low of 0.25%.

At 2.30pm BST, Comex gold futures contract for December delivery was up 0.31% or $3.90, extending the overnight uptick stateside to $1,368.60 an ounce, as investors concerned about the health of the post-Brexit global economy, sought the safety of the yellow metal.

Confronted with dire UK economic survey data, the BoE supplemented the rate cut with a decision to increase the central bank's asset purchase programme to £435bn ($572bn, €514bn). The committee was unanimous in its decision to cut interest rates, but was split 6-3 in favour of increasing the level of quantitative easing by another £60bn.

It also announced a new Term Funding Scheme (TFS) to reinforce the pass-through of the cut in interest rates and the purchase of up to £10bn in UK corporate bonds.

Jameel Ahmad, vice president of research at FXTM, said that atop ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, the recent depreciation in the value of the dollar has a provided gold with the platform to return back towards levels not seen since the post-Brexit uncertainty, above $1350.

"Gold still has further upward appreciation potential before the end of 2016 and there are a variety of different reasons for this. Firstly, the oil market is already weighing on equity markets. Secondly, while the US Federal Reserve is maintaining a bias towards raising interest rates, on the outside there is still a lack of confidence over whether this would actually happen in 2016."

Elsewhere, silver futures tumbled lower on hedging calls by traders with the September Comex contract down 0.52% or 11 cents to $20.37 an ounce. Concurrently, spot platinum was 0.49% or $5.65 lower at $1,157.80 an ounce.

Away from precious metals, oil futures continued to trade 20% below their June level, albeit with the pace of decline having slowed compared to last week. At 3.05pm BST, the Brent front month futures contract was down 0.84% or 36 cents to $42.74 per barrel, while the West Texas Intermediate was 0.47% or 19 cents lower at $40.64 per barrel, as fears over inventory overhang continue to mount.

US oil inventories rose by 1.4 million barrels last week, compared with analysts' expectations for a decrease by as many barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), stockpiles of crude and refined oil that built up in OECD-nations during the years of oversupply stands at a record high of more than 3 billion barrels.

Analysts at Vienna-based JBC Energy said the oil price rebound, seen over the past few sessions, remains on shaky ground. "A bullish tone would not fit the implied US crude output picture, with our estimates showing an increase of about 200,000 barrels per day over the last four weeks, which is supported by higher upstream activity in shale areas and hence lower declines.

"In line with this news, four big independent US crude producers have recently increased their production guidance for 2016, mostly on the back of ongoing improvements to drilling and well completion techniques but also on increased spending and plans to add more rigs by year's end."