Wall Street (equity and treasury markets) CLOSED for the Labor Day holiday.
Fresh geopolitical tensions weighed on Europe's markets and capped general investor risk appetite - DAX down -0.33% and CAC -0.38%. London's FTSE 100 eased -0.36% to snap a three-session winning streak.
The base metals complex continued to trade strongly, with copper rallying +1.2% to US$3.1375/lb and hitting a fresh 3-year peak. Nickel gained +1.09% to trade at 2-year highs.
Spot iron ore markets resumed trading after the public holiday in Singapore last Friday, with benchmark 62% fines down -US$1.05c or -1.33% to US$77.86mt.
Gold futures rallied to a near 1-year peak, settling +US$10.90 or +0.82% higher at US$1,341.30/oz . Spot silver rose +0.78% to US$17.83/oz.
Oil prices weaker in subdued trading as refining capacity on the US Gulf Coast continues to come back on-line in the wake of Hurricane Harvey - WTI slipped -US$0.08c to US$47.21/barrel. Brent down -US$0.54c to US$52.20/barrel. Iran's oil minister, Bijan Zanganeh, observed that Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) compliance with the agreement to reduce output had improved in recent months and that unofficial talks were underway among the oil producing countries to extend the production cuts into next year ("“there are talks underway to extend it (production cut deal) but they are not official yet”).
AUD little changed ahead of the latest interest rate decision from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) at 2:30pm AEST (with the benchmark cash rate expected to remain on hold for a thirteenth consecutive month at 1.50%) - buying ~79.45 US cents. Today's RBA meeting comes ahead of tomorrow's second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data.
