Oil prices lower on session

Crude oil prices were lower on Friday as West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery dropped 87 cents at the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange to $88.60 per barrel, down from a new high of $90.07 per barrel which it reached two different times in the course of electronic trade overnight.

Nymex November gasoline futures were 2 cents lower to $2.17 per gallon, but at-the-pump prices in the United States have gone up 5.3 cents in the past few days to a national average of $2.81 per gallon.

December heating oil on Nymex also dropped 2 cents, to $2.35 per gallon, while December natural gas fell 36 cents to $7.72 per million British thermal units.

In metals markets, December copper on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange added 1 cent to $3.55 per pound, while three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange traded even at $7,860 per tonne after dropping to $7,811 per tonne earlier in the session.

Three-month aluminium was up $5 to $2,558 per tonne as stockpiles in LME warehouses dropped again, while three-month lead was $40 higher to $3,705 per tonne and tin added $200 to $16,300 per tonne.

Zinc dropped $15 to $2,955 per tonne while nickel fell $300 to $32,200/$32,250 per tonne.

Precious metals prices were mixed in New York trade on Friday.

January platinum was $1 higher to $1,448.60 per troy ounce on a mine closure in South Africa after a worker died in one of the mineshafts there.

December gold dropped 20 cents to $768.50 per troy ounce while December silver fell 17 cents to $12.64 per troy ounce.

Wheat prices climbed by their daily allowable limit on the Chicago Board of Trade on speculation that Russia might limit exports by taxing shipments out of the country in order to limit gains in food prices at home.

CBOT December wheat added 30 cents to $8.555 per bushel and December corn gained 3 cents to $3.7025 per bushel, but November soybeans dropped 8.25 percent to $9.8325 per bushel.

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