Metals prices decline as oil prices rise

Precious metals prices were lower on Thursday, with June gold futures on the COMEX unit of the New York Mercantile Exchange $5.30 lower to $667.60 per troy ounce after trading in a range between $660.80 and $672.50 during the session. Spot gold was quoted at $661.20/$661.70 per troy ounce, with the London afternoon fix at $661.

COMEX May silver dropped 11.5 cents to $13.340 per tory ounce, trading as high as $11.180 and as low as $13.430 during the session. The London fix was at $13.340 per troy ounce. Meanwhile NYMEX July platinum was $10.20 lower to $1,247.60 per troy ounce, with spot platinum at $1,235.00/$1,240.00. June palladium fell by $1.85 to $356 per troy ounce. Spot palladium was quoted at $350.00/$354.00.

Crude oil was higher, however, trading above $65 per barrel at midday in New York on Thursday, driven higher by continuing tensions between Iran and the west as well as by higher demand in the face of falling supply. Gasoline demand was at 9.2 million barrels last week, 1.6 percent higher than it was a the same time last year, according to a Wednesday report from the US Energy Information Administration.

Pump prices for gasoline are the highest they’ve ever been in March at an average of $2.620 per gallon, 12 cents higher than last year at the same time according to AAA. Some analysts expect that the price for a gallon of gas could hit the $2.75 to $3.35 per gallon range by summer. Meanwhile, gasoline futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange were up 5.75 cents to $2.1147 by midday. May contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were $1.64 higher, to $65.72, on Nymex.

Heating oil was 3.16 cents higher to $1.8590 per gallon by mid-session, while natural gas added less than one cent to $7.674 per 1,000 cubic feet. The slight gain in natural gas prices came even though inventories were down by 22 billion cubic feet last week to 1.511 trillion cubic feet.

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