Commodities prices higher on session

Prices on commodities were higher on Monday, mainly due to tight supplies or worries that supplies will tighten.

Copper hit its highest price of the year so far, reaching $6,650 per tonne at one point in the session after a statement by BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT; NYSE: BHP; ASX: BHP) that higher demand in China would put pressure on the market in the years second quarter, although it also said that supplies would increase in the second half of the year.

The cash price for nickel went above $50,000 for a time during the day, the first time that has ever happened, as inventories in London Metal Exchange warehouses fell to 2,550 tonnes. Three-month nickel prices were down from Friday’s price to $46,600 late in the day.

Tin prices breached $14,000 per tonne during the session, for the first time since the 1980s.

Meanwhile, crude oil prices rose on Monday in anticipation of the coming summer driving season in the United States. May contracts for Brent crude added 64 cents to $60.94 per barrel late in the afternoon in London. West Texas Intermediate for April delivery was up 24 cents to $57.35 per barrel in early afternoon trade in New York. With the April WTI contract due to expire at the close of trade on Tuesday, May contracts were trading at $60.03 per barrel, a gain of 45 cents.

Gasoline futures were higher as well, with Nymex gasoline 5 cents higher to $1.9563 per gallon, its highest price since it rose above $2 per gallon in August 2006. A BP refinery near Los Angeles, which produces 260,000 barrels of gasoline per day, shut down temporarily, adding to supply worries.

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