[MARKET ANALYSIS] Crude continues to soften amid halted Iran-Israeli strikes; metals supported by softer dollar and positive risk tone

Crude futures are softer, continuing from Monday's afternoon sell-off, as Israel and Iran seemingly hold onto their promises to halt attacks on each other. Despite this, there have been reports of strikes in Lebanon but benchmarks were unreactive. Late in Monday's session, Axios reported that in a call with Israeli PM Netanyahu, US President Trump warned that if the Israeli leader went back to war with Iran, he might be fighting alone. Further on the US-Iran deal, CNN reported, citing a top Iranian official, said a deal being imminently reached is doubtful due to persistence of major roadblocks regarding Iran's nuclear programme and uranium enrichment. However, these reports have failed to damper the risk tone. WTI Jul trades at the lower end of a USD 88.80-91.55/bbl range while Brent Aug hovers around the USD 92.00/bbl mark (USD 92.00-94.42/bbl). Precious metals have steadied since Friday's selloff, with spot gold hovering above the USD 4300/oz handle (USD 4313-4352/oz). Spot silver has regained the 200-SMA, trading at the upper end of its USD 67.46-68.86/oz range. 3M LME Copper gains, along with the broader base metal space, amid the positive risk tone. The red metal trades at the top end of its USD 13.55k-13.77k/t range.