I. Precious Metals
Gold

Gold dipped on Tuesday as U.S. Treasury yields rose on an uptick in housing starts for November, dampening the appealing of non-interest bearing gold to investors.

Spot gold was down 0.04 percent at $1,260.86 an ounce, earlier hitting a nearly two-week high of $1,265.20, while U.S. gold futures futures for February delivery settled down $1.30, or 0.1 percent, at $1,264.20 per ounce.

Holdings of the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, New York-based SPDR Gold Shares, fell 7.1 tonnes on Monday, their largest one-day outflow since late July, cutting its inflow for the year to 15 tonnes.

Market players were wary of taking new positions before the holiday season. Gold is on track to post its narrowest trading range of any quarter in a decade in the last three months of the year. We maintained our view on bargain hunting as the upward momentum remains on track.

Silver

Silver was down 0.5 percent at $16.05 an ounce, after seeing a two-week high of $16.22. The white metal closed in a cross star pattern in a seesaw trading, showing lackluster sentiment ahead of the New Year holiday.

On technical front, silver lingered above the 5-day moving average, suggesting that investors could still buy on dips.

II. Commodities
Crude Oil

Oil edged up toward $64 a barrel on Tuesday, helped by a North Sea pipeline outage, OPEC-led supply cuts and expectations that U.S. crude inventories had fallen for a fifth week.

But rising U.S. output has put a lid on gains. Shale production will rise to a record in January, according to a government forecast published on Monday, as higher prices encourage increased drilling. Brent crude settled up 39 cents or 0.6 percent to $63.80 a barrel. U.S. crude settled up 30 cents or 0.5 percent to $56.46.

In general, crude market was quite in recent sessions. We maintain our view that investors shall not keep long trade as supporting factors are short-lived and the oversupply fundamentals remain on track after prices hovered at highs for more than a month.

Copper

Copper finished up 0.5 percent at $6,942 a tonne. Resistance mounted on profit-taking and as copper prices approached the $7,000-per-tonne-mark. On fundamentals, we maintain our view that investors shall keep from longing copper even though a weaker dollar would provide a floor.

Soybean

U.S. soybean futures fell to a three-month low on Tuesday on technical selling and forecasts for crop-boosting rains in South America. Chicago Board of Trade March soybeans fell 5-1/2 cents to $9.56 a bushel, the lowest since mid-September.

Soybean prices dropped below Monday’s session lows. Losses accelerated in the afternoon on technical selling. January soymeals were down $3.3 at $315.2 per short tonne. December soyoil ended up 0.2 cents at 33.22 cents per pound.

Dealing Room, ICBC Beijing Branch
                        Huang Han