Base metals prices drop, oil mixed

Base metals prices were lower on Tuesday even though tin reached a long-term high and copper prices were up to their highest level since December during the session. Meanwhile, nickel was down approximately 4 percent on the session, with three-month prices falling $2,000 to $44,500 per tonne.

Tin reached as high as $14,200 per tonne during the day on the London Metal Exchange but ended up dropping $100 on the day to $13,850 per tonne even though there are still worries about supply disruptions in Indonesia. Tin prices are still up 21 percent since the beginning of the year.

Three-month copper dropped $20 on the day to $6,650 per tonne despite rising to $6,715 per tonne earlier in the session. The declines could be a reaction to new figures on 2006 supply from the Lisbon-based International Copper Study Group, which showed that there were surpluses of copper in 2006 as against deficits in 2005 and in previous years.

Meanwhile in the oil markets, trade was light in crude oil futures by midday in New York on Tuesday. Prices were mixed, with April contracts West Texas Intermediate crude up just 1 cent to $56.60 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In the absence of any substantial news, and with April contracts expiring at the end of the session, traders were waiting to see what the Energy Information Administrations has to say about inventories on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Brent crude for May delivery dropped 13 cents to $60.39 on the Intercontinental Exchange in London.

Analysts expect that the new US inventories numbers will show that crude oil stockpiles were up by 1.4 million barrels last week, while they anticipate a decline of 1.1 million barrels in distillates inventories and a drop of 1.4 million barrels of gasoline in storage. That drop in gasoline stockpiles, added to anticipation of the upcoming summer driving season, sent Nymex gasoline as high as $1.985 per gallon before it backed off to $1.9605 per gallon, up just a fraction over Monday’s closing price. Nymex heating oil was also up less than one cent, to $1.6896 per gallon. The price of natural gas was up 7.4 cents to $6.921 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Story link: Base metals prices drop, oil mixed