Crude oil, gold prices lower on session

Crude oil declined substantially in New York on Tuesday after Iran complied with a key United Nations demand in relation to its nuclear program and as the International Energy Agency revised demand forecasts down for the rest of this year and all of 2008.

West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery dropped $3.45 to $91.17 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and went as low as $90.13 per barrel during the session, while December contracts for Brent crude on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London fell $3.18 to $88.80 per barrel.

Nymex December gasoline fell 10 cents to $2.32 per gallon and December heating oil was down 8 cents to $2.50 per gallon, while January natural gas dropped 5 cents to $8.28 per million British thermal units.

Precious metals prices were mixed.

December gold dropped back below the $800 level to close at $799 per troy ounce, a decline of $8.70 amid heavy trade, while December silver fell 15 cents to $14.61 per troy ounce.

Meanwhile, January platinum added $21.50 to $1,412.30 per troy ounce and December palladium gained $1.25 to $373.50 per troy ounce.

Among base metals, December copper was lower, but by less than 1 cent to $3.10 per pound in New York, while three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange dropped $110 to $6,930 per tonne as LME inventories grew by more than 1,500 tonnes on the session.

Grain prices were mixed.

January soybeans on the Chicago Board of Trade added 10 cents to $10.55 per bushel, while December corn dropped 4.25 cents to $3.74 per bushel and December wheat fell 13 cents to $3.74 per bushel.

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