Crude oil prices rise higher

Crude oil prices resumed their rise on Thursday amid continuing worries about the situation on the Turkey-Iraq border.

November contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed at $89.47 per gallon, a gain of $2.07 on the session, after going as high as $89.56 per barrel earlier in the day for a new record, while Brent crude for December delivery added $1.48 to $84.61 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex November gasoline gained 4 cents to $2.19 per gallon, while December heating oil was up 3 cents to $2.37 per gallon and January natural gas jumped 9 cents to $8.52 per million British thermal units.

Precious metals prices were higher on Thursday as the US dollar once again declined in relation to the euro and amid sentiment that the US Federal Reserve will not be able to avoid cutting interest rates again.

In New York, gold for December delivery closed $6.40 higher to $768.70 per troy ounce, the highest for a most-active contract since early 1980, while December silver added 5 cents to $13.80 per troy ounce.

January platinum gained $9.40 to $1,447.60 per troy ounce on the dollar’s misfortunes as well as on the closing of a South African mine after an accident there resulted in a worker’s death.

Among base metals, three-month zinc added $5 to $2,970 per tonne in London, while three-month aluminium was $43 higher to $2,553 per tonne on falling stockpiles.

Lead gained $115 to $3,665 per tonne even though inventories were up by 1,750 tonnes, the third day in a row that LME stockpiles have risen, while nickel added $700 to $32,500 per tonne.

Copper was 5 cents lower to $3.60 per pound in New York, while three-month LME copper dropped $100 to $7,860 per tonne after going as low as $7,814 per tonne earlier in the session as inventories were up by 4,625 tonnes on the session.

Tin also saw declines, closing at $16,100/$16,200 on the session, down from $16,375/$16,400 on Wednesday.

Grains prices were higher on the Chicago Board of Trade.

CBOT December wheat gained 5 cents to $8.25 per bushel while December corn added 9.25 cents to $3.67 per bushel and November soybeans were up 17.25 cents to $9.915 per bushel.

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