Crude oil prices mixed on session

Crude oil prices in New York were higher at the close of trade after having traded lower for much of the day on Wednesday, while Brent crude was lower on the session.

West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery ended the floor session with a gain of 82 cents to $80.35 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude November contracts were 87 cents lower to $76.75 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange in London.

Nymex October gasoline dropped 1 cent to $2.03 per gallon, while November heating oil traded even at $2.20 per gallon and November natural gas fell 4 cents to $7.05 per million British thermal units.

The US Energy Information Administration reported that crude oil inventories were up by 1.84 million barrels in the week ending 21 September, while gasoline stockpiles rose by 600,000 barrels and distillates inventories were up by 1.6 million barrels, again more than was anticipated.

Precious metals prices were mixed in New York on Wednesday.

December gold was $3.30 lower to $735.50 per troy ounce but still remained 15 percent higher on the year so far, while December silver fell 7.5 cents to $13.55 per troy ounce.

With some analysts calling platinum a safer investment than gold, platinum and palladium were both higher.

January platinum added $2.70 to $1,360.50 per troy ounce, a new high closing price, and was as high as $1,363 per troy ounce earlier in the session , also a record.

December palladium gained $2.70 to $345.45 per troy ounce.

Among agricultural commodities, Decmeber wheat on the Chicago Board of Trade reached a record high price of $9.12 per bushel in early afternoon trade, a gain of 24.75 cents, after the Ukraine said it will restrict exports of its wheat.

Algeria made a new purchase of US wheat, while Pakistan, Morocco and Jordan all said they planned to buy.

Corn and soybeans were both higher as well, with December corn adding 3.25 cents to $3.75 per bushel and November soybeans 17.75 cents higher to $9.91 per bushel.

Story link: Crude oil prices mixed on session