Oil prices higher on US inventories

Crude oil prices rose Wednesday as the US Energy Information Administration said that inventories of crude oil, gasoline and distillates all dropped last week.

December contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were $1.83 higher to $87.10 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for December delivery gained $1.51 to $84.36 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex November gasoline added 4 cents to $2.15 per gallon, while December heating oil was 4 cents higher to $2.36 per gallon and December gas was up 19 cents to $7.66 per million British thermal units.

Stockpiles of crude oil dropped by 5.3 million barrels to 316.6 million barrels in the week ending 19 October, according to the EIA, while gasoline inventories fell 2 million barrels to 193.8 million barrels and distillates in storage were down by 1.8 million barrels to 134.5 million barrels.

The price of gold rose in New York on Wednesday as other precious metals prices declined, with the gains coming as equities markets declined, crude oil prices rose, and existing home sales in the US were reported to be down again in September.

December gold added $2.50 to $765.60 per troy ounce, while December silver was 6 cents lower to $13.59 per troy ounce, January platinum dropped $10 to $1,443 per troy ounce and December palladium fell $3.75 to $362 per troy ounce.

Among base metals, December copper dropped 6 cents to $3.45 per pound in New York, while three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down $105 to $7,690 per tonne, or $3.49 per pound as investors worried that US demand could erode.

Prices for corn and soybeans on the Chicago Board of Trade were lower as record harvests overwhelmed the ability to find storage for them as the US Department of Agriculture estimated that 60 percent of the corn crop and 75 percent of the soybean crop had been harvested.

CBOT December corn dropped 4.5 cents to $3.565 per bushel, while January soybeans were 5.5 cents lower to $9.93 per bushel.

Prices for December wheat again dropped by their maximum allowed 30 cents on CBOT, to $8.11 per bushel.

March and May CBOT wheat contracts were also down by the 30-cent limit, to $8.31 per bushel and $7.89 per bushel respectively.

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