Oil slump expected to lure investors back to commodities

Return of volatility attractive for hedge funds, traders say

The acute slide in oil prices since September has pumped new life into the crude oil derivatives market, boosting volumes, creating opportunities for hedge funds and bolstering the case for long-only passive investment in commodities, market participants say.

“Oil has come to the centre stage of what is going on in the world,” says Ricardo Lopez Guinazu, a Houston-based crude oil trader at Barclays. “This [price] move has brought a lot of attention back into the market.”

Amid fears of weakening