Oil, metals prices higher

Crude oil prices jumped again Friday as geopolitical factors affecting or potentially affecting oil production just will not resolve and as the dollar weakened again.

Brent crude added 62 cents to $88.10 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London, while December contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude closed $1.40 higher at $91.86 per barrel after going as high as $92.22 in electronic trading.

Nymex November gasoline was up 4 cents to $2.28 per gallon and December heating oil gained 1 cent to $2.44 per gallon, while December natural gas dropped 2 cents to $7.80 per million British thermal units.

Precious metals prices saw gains in New York as the US dollar dropped to new record lows against the euro and weakened against other currencies.

Gold for December delivery was $16.50 higher to $787.50 per troy ounce not only on the dollar’s current weakness, but also on the possibility that Middle East investors will buy gold rather than US Treasury bonds if tensions continue to escalate there.

December silver gained 38 cents to $14.28 per troy ounce, while January platinum jumped $15.40 to $1,469.10 per troy ounce.

Meanwhile among base metals, December copper added 5 cents to $3.54 per pound in New York while three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up $105 to $7,870 per tonne, or $3.57 per pound, even though LME inventories were up 2,725 tonnes on the session.

Grains prices were mixed as December wheat on the Chicago Board of Trade fell 2 cents to $8 per bushel but CBOT January soybeans added 0.75 cent to $10.1325 per bushel and December corn gained 5.75 cents to $3.72 per bushel.

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