Commodity outlook: Natural gas tanks; here's how others may fare

NEW DELHI: Barring gold, all metals and energy counters were trading with cuts on Wednesday as trade tensions between US and China escalated even as coronavirus continued to cripple the economies.

Natural gas dropped 4.43 per cent to Rs 127.30 while silver, nickel, zinc and copper slid up to 0.5 per cent. Gold was up 0.05 per cent to Rs 45,646.

Here is how SMC Global expects commodities to trade today:

Bullion: Bullion counters can trade on a mixed path. Gold can take support near Rs 45,500 and resistance near Rs 46,000 while silver may take support near Rs 42,800 and resistance near Rs 43,500.

Base metals: Base metals may witness positive movement. Copper can move towards Rs 407 while taking support near Rs 395. Zinc can move towards Rs 157 by taking support near Rs 151. Lead can move towards Rs 132 while taking support near Rs 128. Nickel can recover towards Rs 940 while taking support near Rs 920. Aluminum can remain in range of Rs 128-132.

Energy: Crude oil may witness some profit booking.It can dip towards Rs 1,900 while facing resistance near Rs 2,000. Natural gas can remain under pressure as it can test Rs 130 by facing resistance near Rs 140.

Spices: Turmeric futures on the national bourse has made a new fresh 4 year low at Rs 5,198 and this bearish trend is likely to persist as it is likely to test Rs 5,150-5,100. Cardamom futures (June) may witness recovery till Rs 1,800-1,830. The downside of Jeera futures (June) may get extended towards Rs 13,400-13,300 as the fundamentals are bearish. Dhaniya futures (June) may break the support near Rs 5,540 and plunge to test Rs 5,450-5,400.

Oilseeds: Soybean futures (June) is expected to trade with a downside bias towards Rs 3,750-3,700. Mustard futures (June) is looking bullish for Rs 4,220-4,250, hence, a dip towards Rs 4,150-4,170 can be considered as a buying opportunity. Soy oil futures (June) may continue to face resistance near Rs 760 and the upside may remain capped, while CPO futures (May) is expected to remain below Rs 590.

Other commodities: Cotton futures (May) may trade higher towards Rs 16,000-16,100. Chana futures (June) may trade sideways taking support near Rs 4,095. Castor seed futures is trading nearly just to its yearly low of Rs 3,608 and going ahead this bearish trend in the June contract will possibly get extended to Rs 3,600-3,550.