Crude prices drop while precious metals make gains

Oil prices were slightly lower by mid-afternoon on Friday. May contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped 25 cents to $63.50 per barrel. May Nymex gasoline was also lower, dropping 3 cents to $2.17 per gallon, while May Nymex heating oil fell 1 cent to $1.90 per gallon. The price of natural gas was 13 cents lower, to $7.79 per million British thermal units.

Among other commodities, the price of gold added $10.20 on Friday to $689.90 per troy ounce after June contracts went as high as $690.50 per troy ounce earlier in the day. Spot gold was at $684.30/$684.80 per troy ounce, much higher than Thursday’s late quote. The afternoon fix in London was at $681.75. Gold prices were 1.5 percent higher on the week.

May silver added nearly 24 cents to trade at $14.090 per troy ounce, a gain of 1.7 percent. Spot silver was quoted at $14.04/$14.09. In London, the afternoon fix was set at $13.880 per troy ounce.

July platinum added $6.90 to $1,286.40 per troy ounce after going as high as $1,289 per troy ounce earlier, while June palladium was $6.75 higher to $381.05 per troy ounce.

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