The big sell-off in the US dollar late last week after the Fed’s dovish statements on interest rates, helped major commodities to their best week for a couple of months.
In New York early Saturday morning, our time, US crude-oil futures rose thanks to the fall in the greenback and another decline in the number of rigs drilling for oil and gas across the US the week before.
Traders also positioned themselves before the expiration of the April futures contracts on Friday night, our time, helping drive prices higher.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the April contract ended life at $45.72 a barrel, up $US1.76, or 4%.
Crude for May delivery, which is now the front month, rose $US1.04, or 2.3%, to $US46.57 a barrel.
Traders said that based on the most-active contracts details, crude oil futures rose just on 4% over the week, while the April contract was up roughly 1.9% from its week-ago settlement.
In London, the May Brent crude futures contract ended at $US55.32 a barrel, up 89 cents, or 1.6%. Brent was up 1% over the week.
Data Friday from Baker Hughes showed the number of rigs used to drill for oil and gas in the week ending March 20 fell 56 to 1,069.
The number of rigs being used to drill for just oil dropped by 41 to 825.
US crude prices hit a six-year low earlier on Wednesday before the Fed’s post meeting statement and other commentary from chair Janet Yellen convinced markets to believe that US interest rates would increase more slowly than previously thought and that the actual size of the rise would also be smaller than previously forecast.
That has helped undermine the value of the US dollar, and sparked a big rally in bonds and in equities.
It enabled traders to also ignore the continuing rise in US oil stocks.
Comex gold futures climbed for a third straight session on Friday in New York to end the week up almost 3%.
Gold for April delivery jumped $US15.60, or 1.3%, to settle at $US1,184.60 an ounce.
Comex prices ended up 2.8%, and settled at their highest level since March 5.
May silver jumped 76.9c, or 4.8%, to end at $US16.883 an ounce, with prices around 9% higher for the week.
May copper added 10.1c, or 3.8%, to $US2.761 a pound – up nearly 3.5% for the week.
