[May 14, 2013] China Commodities Market Roundup -- May 14 Tweet SHENYANG, May 14, 2013 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- China's domestic commodities were mostly lower on Tuesday. Nonferrous metals and energy futures fell across the board. Rubber dropped almost 2 percent. Coke bucked the trend and agricultural products rose modestly. Weak China stock markets weighed on sentiment and kept investors cautious. Wenhua CCI index, which tracks the major domestic commodities futures market prices and overall performance, closed at 168.12 points, down 0.33 percent. Global commodities mostly ended lower, compressed by the strong U.S. dollar. The LME copper futures edged up on Monday as weak Chinese factory data for April raised expectations for policies to stimulate the economy, which would underpin demand for metals. Domestic base metals generally fell. The SHFE September copper contract settled down 1.27 percent to 52,680 yuan per tonne. Still, hopes for rising Chinese demand over the next few weeks should help limit copper's downside. The Brent crude oil futures fell the most in two weeks on Monday, hit by slowing oil demand in China and data showing the biggest drop for the U.S. retail gasoline sales in more than four years. Domestic chemical generally settled down, with the SHFE rubber September contract recaptured some losses in the afternoon, and finished down 1.93 percent. The fundamentals are still weak, and rubber in the Qingdao bonded zone is about to face the high temperature and rainfall test. Soybean futures on the CBOT rose on Monday on firm cash market and the tightening U.S. supply, lifting the spot contract to a six-month high. The CBOT corn futures soared more than 3 percent Monday, its largest gains since the end of April. Domestic agricultural products extended losses from the previous session, while soy meal was relatively strong, with the DCE September contract edging up 0.34 percent. However, with import soybeans delivering to domestic ports in late May, soy meal futures will remain strong in short term and weak in long term. China's Shanghai composite index shed 1.6 percent, suffering their worst daily loss in three weeks on Tuesday, as market liquidity was expected to be eased. "The U.S. retail sales unexpectedly rose in April, pointing to underlying strength in the economy. Investors are looking to a patch of U.S. data released later this week, including industrial output on Wednesday, housing starts on Thursday and consumer confidence on Friday," said Wang Na, a senior researcher of Everbright Futures. (Contributed by Leon 138-8913-2338; edited by Huang Xiaolan, [email protected]) [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]