Commodities dropped Monday after China reported the slowest economic growth
since 2009.
Gold and industrial metals fell on concern
that weakness in the world’s biggest consumer of raw materials will keep
prices under pressure. Bloomberg has reported its economic index fell for a third day.
Comex gold for December delivery was last down 0.96% to $1,171.80 an ounce, while December Comex silver lost 1,36% to trade at 15.895 an ounce.
December Comex copper lost 0.65% to trade at 2.386 a pound.
Crude futures for delivery in November traded at $46.93 a barrel, down 33 cents, or 0.3%. December Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell 33 cents, or 0.7%, to $50.13 a barrel.
The Shanghai Composite Index closed little changed at 3.547.08, down 0.13%,
as market players reflected on if the 6.9 percent expansion
in China’s gross domestic product last quarter - better than the consensus forecast, but lower than the government’s 7 percent
growth target - would drive additional stimulus.
“Chinese growth numbers are coming down - that trend will not stop,” said Hartmut Issel, Singapore-based chief investment officer for UBS AG’s wealth management unit.
China
was at the center of last quarter’s global market turmoil, which
led to the biggest equity outflow in four years. Data released Monday showed
retail sales rose more than expected in September, while industrial
production and fixed asset investment slowed by more than strategists
projected.
Global stocks have been rallying throughout October, a bounce back that has restored more than $4 trillion to the value of the global equity market.
Stabilization in Chinese stocks
along with dipping prospects of an increase to Federal
Reserve borrowing rates have supported the advance, helping to spur a
recovery in emerging-market assets and commodities from crude oil to
industrial metals. Energy and raw-materials producers have driven the
October gains, followed by technology stocks.
Later this week, the European Central Bank will release a review on monetary policy, with market players closely watching any commentary on the outlook for the region’s quantitative-easing program.
