A month after registering its first monthly gain since June 2008, the S&P GSCI declined 0.92 per cent in April led by weakness in the energy and precious metals sectors.PARA_BREAK_SENTINEL_9f8e7d6c A month after registering its first monthly gain since June 2008, the S&P GSCI declined 0.92 per cent in April led by weakness in the energy and precious metals sectors. According to Standard & Poor's Index Services, the S&P GSCI was pushed lower in April by the 2.25 per cent drop in the S&P GSCI Energy Index, and the 3.80 per cent loss by the S&P GSCI Precious Metals Index. Keeping the index afloat was the S&P GSCI Industrial Metals Index which gained 9.01 per cent during the month. 'Reflecting potential economic optimism, the industrial metals were the strongest S&P GSCI sector in April and have been so since the start of 2009,' says Michael McGlone, director of commodity indexing at Standard & Poor's. Led by a 43.47 per cent year-to-date increase in the S&P GSCI Copper Index, the S&P GSCI Industrial Metals Index is up 15.51 per cent for the year. Also showing signs of economic optimism, the S&P GSCI Spot Index ended April with a year-to-date gain of 4.82 per cent. 'However, the strength of the U.S. dollar and the cost of rolling futures into the extreme contango conditions that existed earlier in the year, have hampered investable commodity returns in 2009,' adds Standard & Poor's McGlone.
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