Metals prices drop on session

Crude oil prices climbed on Wednesday even though US inventories figures that showed oil, gasoline, and distillate stockpiles were all higher during the week ending June 1.

Crude oil stockpiles added 100,000 barrels last week to 342.3 million barrels, while gasoline inventories gained 3.5 million barrels to 201.5 million barrels. The gain in gasoline stockpiles was higher than the 1.4 million barrels that was anticipated. Distillates inventories added 1.9 million barrels to reach 122.3 million barrels in storage.

July contracts for Brent crude were 68 cents higher to $71.13 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery gained 50 cents to $66.11 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude oil prices initially dropped after the new inventories numbers, but rose again after a cyclone disrupted supplies from Oman for the second day in a row. There were some concerns that the storm could interrupt shipping in the Persian Gulf.

Refinery utilization dropped to 89.6 percent, the lowest early June utilization in fifteen years and a surprise decline from the previous week’s 91.1 percent. Demand for gasoline continued to rise,however, rising by 1.5 percent to 9.45 million barrels per day. Still, Nymex July gasoline dropped 2.7 cents to $2.18 per gallon on the session.

Metals prices, on the other hand, were lower on the session. Among precious metals, gold dropped 0.5 percent to $665.75 per troy ounce, while platinum dropped 0.2 percent to $1,288 per troy ounce. The decline in platinum prices came even though there is the possibility of a strike in South Africa, where miners are asking for better pay.

Lead dropped 0.9 percent to $2,305 per tonne as most base metals saw declines, while nickel dropped 1.3 percent to $45,600 per tonne. Aluminium dropped 1.9 percent to $2,750.5 per tonne. Zinc was 2.2 percent lower to $3,690 per tonne even though London Metal Exchange stockpiles dropped 1,000 tonnes, while copper prices were 2.6 percent lower to $7,425 per tonne. As with zinc, the price of copper was lower even though LME inventories were down by 250 tonnes.

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