Commodities Update — Gold falls; Grains rise; Copper retreats from 8-week high

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RIYADH: Gold fell over 1 percent on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in his speech at Jackson Hole said the US economy needed a tight monetary policy until inflation was under control.

Spot gold fell 1.17 percent to $1,738.14 per ounce. US gold futures settled 1.2 percent lower at $1,749.80.

Silver drops

Spot silver dropped 1.83 percent to $18.90 per ounce.

Platinum fell 2.29 percent to $866.96, while palladium went down 1.95 percent to $2,108.87.

Grains up

Chicago Board of Trade corn and soybean futures jumped on Friday on concerns about hot and dry weather reducing US yields.

The most-active CBOT corn contract ended up 14-1/4 cents at $6.64-1/4 a bushel.

CBOT soybeans settled up 30 cents at $14.61-1/4 a bushel, while wheat rose 16-1/4 cents to $8.05-1/4 a bushel.

Copper retreats

Copper prices pulled back on Friday after touching their highest in nearly two months after the head of the US Federal Reserve doubled down on more interest rate hikes and warned that it would be painful.

Earlier, copper and aluminum prices had shot up on worries over an energy crisis hitting output while supply is tight and inventories low.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange gained as much as 2.3 percent to $8,316 a ton, its highest since June 30, before paring gains to $8,160.

Copper prices have rebounded 17 percent since touching 20-month lows on July 15, but are still down 25 percent from a record peak scaled in March.

LME zinc added 0.8 percent to $3,575 a ton, lead rose 0.6 percent to $1,987.50 and tin gained 0.6 percent to $24,460, but nickel shed 0.4 percent to $21,600.

(With input from Reuters)