In the commodity market, oil prices gained from the comments made by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who expressed his readiness to extend record production cuts in the wake of the pandemic. However, crude prices gave up their recent gains amid fears that the second wave would hurt demand. Both WTI and Brent have lost about 0.50% as of now. Prices are set to end the week slightly lower.
Gold is bullish despite a stronger greenback, as investors reacted to the latest debate between Trump and Biden, and amid the stimulus talks progress. The metal is up 0.04% to $1,905. Earlier today, Refinitiv Metals Research said that demand for gold from jewelers and central banks would remain lower next year compared to the pre-COVID period. Nevertheless, demand would be driven by investors who will hoard record amounts of bullion. The high prices of gold and the lockdowns have crashed the sales of jewelry in Asia, which was the biggest driver of the gold market.
In FX, the US dollar is ascending, recovering part of previous losses. The USD Index rose 0.13% to 93.082. Still, the greenback is set to end the week much lower after slumping on stimulus hopes.
EUR/USD is down 0.17% to 1.1795. However, USD/JPY is down 0.12% to 104.60, as the yen is attracting more investors amid the expected turbulent trade before the election.
The British pound is correcting after surging on Brexit optimism. GBP is down against both the USD and the euro. Meanwhile, British consumer sentiment fell in October by the most since the lockdown was introduced in March.
