I. Precious Metals
Gold
Gold hit its highest in almost seven weeks at $1,270 during the session on Monday, boosted by struggling U.S. economic data that cast doubt on whether the Federal Reserve will raise rates again this year. Spot gold was down 0.1 percent at $1,267 an ounce. Dollar weakness on top of U.S. political risks, disappointing economic data, is driving the gold price. The dollar index fell to an almost 16-month low on Monday, crossing below the key mark of 93, and is inevitable to move further down.
Fed Chairman Stanley Fischer said uncertainty over the outlook for U.S. healthcare, regulation, taxes and trade could prompt firms to delay projects until the policy environment is clearer.
However, weak physical demand is expected to limit gold's gains. Gold prices in India last week recorded the biggest discount in seven months as a rebound in prices curtailed retail demand, while lower premiums in other Asian centers failed to lure customers amid a seasonal slowdown.
On chart, gold extended gains to the third consecutive week, nearing the weekly resistance of 1,280. A fierce fight can be expected at this level. A successful breakthrough could undermine its long-term trend. But signs were unclear at this moment.

Silver
Silver rose 0.8 percent to $16.79 an ounce on Monday, hitting the highest since June 29 at $16.88. The white metal rebounded for the fourth straight week, currently under the key resistance of $16.83. A breakthrough would lift prices to the 200-week moving average of $17.4 in the medium term. Near-term support can be found at $16.72.

II. Commodities
Crude Oil
Oil prices rose to two-month highs on Monday, boosted in part by expectations of U.S. sanctions against Venezuela's oil sector. During the trading day, chatter centered around potential U.S. Treasury sanctions targeting the country's oil sector in response to Venezuela's Sunday election which Washington denounced as a "sham." That helped boost prices prior to settlement due to concern about possible limits on oil imports from Venezuela or exports of U.S. fuel to that country. After the close, however, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions limited only to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Benchmark Brent crude rose 0.3 percent to settle at $52.65. Brent earlier hit $52.92 a barrel, its highest since May 25. U.S. light crude oil rose nearly 1 percent to settle $50.17 a barrel.
Some OPEC and non-OPEC members will meet on Aug. 7-8 in Abu Dhabi to assess how the group can increase compliance with production cuts that began on Jan. 1. In Europe, a production outage at Royal Dutch Shell Plc's 404,000 barrel-per-day Pernis refinery in the Netherlands following a fire sent benchmark European diesel margins to their highest since November 2015 at $14.60 a barrel. The strength in Brent prices pushed WTI-Brent spread to the widest since March 28. The spread settled at a discount of $2.48 a barrel.

Copper
The price of copper hit a two-year peak on Monday on upbeat manufacturing data in top consumer China. A government-led drive to develop infrastructure boosted growth in the construction sector. The data, combined with an environmental crackdown in China, sent Chinese steel prices to their highest since December 2013. London Metal Exchange copper closed up 0.7 percent at $6,369 a tonne, having hit $6,430 earlier, the highest since May 2015. The dollar held near a 13-month low against a basket of currencies, weighed down by political uncertainty and increased short positions.

Soybean
U.S. soybean futures weakened on Monday on forecasts for beneficial weather for crop development in the Midwest. Chicago Board of Trade November soybean futures settled down 5-3/4 cents a bushel at $10.07-1/4. The USDA said soybean inspections were 476,186 tons last week, in line with market expectations. Soymeal futures pulled back, but managed to closed above session lows, with its September futures supported at the 100-day moving average. The contract fell $2.6 at $320.7 a short ton.  September soyoil rose 0.1 cents at 34.81 cents per lb. The trading volume for soybean, soymeal and soyoil stood at 153,209, 87,334 and 100,761 lots respectively.

Dealing Room, ICBC Beijing Branch
Lv Yan