I. Precious Metals
Gold
Gold fell for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, hitting as low as $1,278.12 late in the session on large selling bids, though tensions over North Korea and upcoming French and UK elections underpinned demand in the safe-haven asset. Spot gold was last trading at $1,282.14. Nervousness heading into the French election should theoretically provide some support to gold, but at some point, we think the markets will start to discount a poor showing for Le Pen and perhaps siphon off some of the risk premium already baked into prices. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer painted a picture of a brightening global economy that can better manage the spillover of gradual monetary tightening in the U.S. The dollar index held above 99.5 as the overseas market responded well to the two interest rates hikes by the Federal Reserve in four months, weighing on gold. With heavy resistance at $1,300, gold is expected to pull back after France’s presidential election. We maintain our view that investors shall restrain from chasing highs ahead of the election.

Silver
Spot silver continued to slip at $18.2225 an ounce. On technical front, the metal has a dim outlook as the daily MACD suggests a rising likelihood of pullback. Investors are recommended to turn to profit-taking from net long positions.

II. Commodities
Crude Oil
U.S. crude stocks fell 1.034 million barrels in the latest week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said, a smaller draw than analysts' expectations for an increase of 1.4 million barrels. Gasoline stocks posted a surprising counter-seasonal build of 1.542 million barrels, compared with an expected drawdown of 2 million barrels by analysts. U.S. crude futures settled down $1.97, or 3.75 percent. Brent crude settled down 3.57 percent, or $1.96 a barrel, to $52.93. The slump suggest skepticism over the OPEC’s ability to rebalance oil market, though level of compliance among oil producers with a global deal to cut output is very good in the first quarter, and the OPEC will talk about extending the deal next month. Rising oil production in the U.S. kept prices down as rig count hit record highs in the past months. Oil prices are expected to remain rangebound. Investors are recommended to trade within range.

Copper
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange closed down 0.3 percent at $5,556 a tonne, its lowest since Jan 9. The metal fell 2.1 percent on Tuesday. Chinese refined copper output in March rose 8.5 percent from a year ago to 764,000 tonnes, its highest since at least December 2015. On technical front, $5,500 seems to be a key level. Should copper fell below the level, it might be on track to around $5,380.

Soybean
U.S. soybean futures firmed on Wednesday on bargain-hunting, including short-covering out of concerns over production in Argentina. Chicago Board of Trade May soybean futures settled up 4-1/4 cents at $9.50-1/4 a bushel. Farmers in Brazil were reluctant to sell due to low prices. CBOT May soymeal closed down $1.40 at $310.80 a tonne. CBOT May soyoil fell 0.44 cents to 31.58 cents per lb. The trading volume was expected to stand at 234,472 lots, 121,766 lots and 132,994 lots respectively.

Dealing Room, ICBC Beijing Branch
Qin Gang