OCBC favours palm over gold, copper

Singapore

TROPICAL commodities including palm oil are favoured over gold and copper in the second half, according to Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp, which warned of rising risks to farm supplies from the El Nino weather pattern.

Palm oil was seen at RM2,300 (S$824) a tonne in the final quarter, from RM2,253 on Thursday, analyst Barnabas Gan wrote in a report. Gold will probably tumble to US$1,050 an ounce as higher US borrowing costs strengthen the dollar, said Mr Gan, who's the most-accurate forecaster for precious metals according to Bloomberg Rankings. Copper may slump about 5 per cent to US$5,500 a tonne on ample inventories.