West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery was worth US$13.93 a barrel, Bloomberg reported, following oil for May delivery plunging into negative territory this week as a worldwide slump in demand has led to a lack of storage space.

The Economist Intelligence Unit energy lead analyst Peter Kiernan said price pressure would continue in the coming months "as storage rapidly builds up and the global economic outlook remains decidedly weak, weighing down on oil demand".

The S&P 500 closed down 3% despite the US Senate agreeing to further economic relief to counter the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The FTSE 100 lost a similar amount.

Copper miner Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) closed down 8.19% as copper prices dropped, amid ongoing economic uncertainty and a report Glencore was planning to reopen its operations in Zambia.

The gold price has touched $1,700 an ounce again on the spot market before plunging below $1,660/oz and was earlier worth $1,687/oz.

Gold bulls are tipping it to rise further, with the Bank of America reportedly putting its 18-month target at $3,000/oz, while CPM Group managing director Jeffrey Christian told the World Gold Forum the precious metal price was already in record bull-market territory and has backed it to go higher.

Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX) touched a multi-year high of C$35.80 on Monday and was close at yesterday's finish at $35.16.

Australian gold major Newcrest Mining (ASX: NCM) was down 1.9% in morning trade.