Keeping tabs on black gold and yellow gold

THE week-long event in Beijing brought together 3,000 delegates to the National People's Congress. It is also the occasion for the release of China's projected growth targets for the coming year. Premier Li Keqiang set a slightly lower target of around 6.5 per cent but this was sidelined by North Korean missile tests and US President Donald Trump's allegations of wire tapping against former president Barack Obama.

At first glance the lower Chinese growth was a negative for commodities, but this ignores the expansion of the quantum of demand as the economy grows.

The expectation that the US will embark on expansionary defence and infrastructure spending underpins growing concerns about inflationary pressures.