On March 13, the global futures market showed obvious volatility affected by geopolitics and supply-demand patterns. Energy futures rose sharply, precious metal futures fluctuated and pulled back, and base metals were mixed. The domestic commodity futures market followed the trend of the international market, with energy contracts performing prominently.

In the international market, the main U.S. oil contract closed up 10.48% at $96.39 per barrel; the main Brent oil contract rose 10.62% to $101.75 per barrel, a new high in nearly four years. Precious metal futures generally closed down: COMEX gold futures fell 1.83% to $5,084.10 per ounce, and COMEX silver futures fell 1.85% to $83.95 per ounce, mainly due to the cooling of Fed interest rate cut expectations suppressing the valuation of precious metals.

In the domestic futures market, by the close of trading on the day, most main contracts rose. Driven by international oil prices, the main continuous contract of Shanghai crude oil rose by 8.07% intraday to 770 yuan per barrel, once rising to 771.80 yuan; the main continuous contract of fuel oil rose by more than 4% to 4,869.00 yuan; the main continuous contract of soybean meal rose by more than 2% to 3,136.00 yuan. In terms of declines, pure benzene fell by more than 2%, and styrene (EB) and ethylene glycol (EG) fell by more than 1%.

Industry insiders analyzed that the futures market will continue to be affected by the Middle East geopolitical situation in the short term, and the volatility of energy futures may intensify. Domestically, the spring ploughing demand supports the trend of agricultural product futures, while energy futures need to pay close attention to the navigation situation of the Strait of Hormuz and the progress of global crude oil reserve release. Investors need to be alert to market volatility risks.