Gasoline futures, pump prices drop

The price of crude oil was down nearly 5 percent in New York on Monday, its biggest one-day decline since December 2004.

At the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $3.44 to $72.04 per barrel, taking prices to 3.9 percent lower than they were last year at the same time, while September contracts for Brent crude were down $3.67 to $71.08 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange in London.

Nymex September gasoline dropped 10 cents to $1.93 per gallon and September heating oil fell 9 cents to $1.94 per gallon, while September natural gas futures, however, added 12 cents to $6.21 per million British thermal units.

Meanwhile, gasoline prices at the pump in the United States were down another half cent to an average $2.838 per gallon according to a survey by AAA.

Metals prices were mixed on the session.

Gold was $1.10 lower to $683.30 per troy ounce as crude oil prices and the value of the dollar both declined.

September silver was lower, down 13 cents to $13.03 per troy ounce and September palladium was 45 cents lower to $366.60 per troy ounce, while October platinum added $1 to $1,299 per troy ounce.

Copper prices were at a five-week low in New York on Monday as September contracts for the metal dropped just under a cent to $3.47 per pound on Monday afternoon and was down as low as $3.43 per pound earlier in the session, its lowest level since the end of June.

In London, however, three-month copper added 0.3 percent to $7,690 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange during the day.

In other metals, three-month lead dropped 8.7 percent to $3,032 per tonne on the LME near the close of trade, while nickel was down $300 to $28,850 per tonne to well below its record of almost $52,000 set in early May.

Zinc was also lower, dropping $36 to $3,350 per tonne in London, while tin and aluminium both remained steady at $16,100 per tonne and $2,645 per tonne respectively.

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