Commodities: Agriculture futures dip amid lull in US-China-Europe trade spat

Commodities were on the back foot on Monday, with traders using a lull in the trade spat between the US and China to shift from agriculture futures to base metals.

Thus, while November soybean on CBoT was down by 2.52% to $8.72 a bushel, September copper on COMEX was up by 1.7% to $2.8655 a pound.

LME base metals were mostly higher as well, in what traders at Sucden Financial described as "choppy" trading amid "moderate" turnover, with the broker referencing an easing in US/China/Europe trade tensions as the main driver behind price moves.

Three-month zinc futures were the exception in London, slipping from $2,747 per metric tonne at the open to close at $2,705, with Sucden attributing the move to the "fundamental picture" in zinc.

As of 2033 BST, the Bloomberg commodity index was edging 0.09% lower to 86.13, the mirror image of the 0.13% rise in the US spot dollar index to 94.08.

Energy futures were mostly higher, outside of natural gas, for which the August contract on NYMEX was retreating 1.08% to $2.83/MMBtu.

West Texas Intermediate for August delivery meanwhile was up by 0.34% to $74.05 a barrel, weighed down by the latest weekly rig count data published on the previous Friday which revealed a decline in the number of rigs in operation in the US, during the week ending on 6 July, increased by five to 863.

In parallel, similarly-dated NYMEX gasoline was ahead by 2.14% to $2.1537 a gallon.