Crude prices drop as precious metals, grains see gains

Crude oil prices were lower on Tuesday ahead of a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Companies and on a new report that says Iran stopped its program to develop nuclear weapons as far back as 2003.

West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery dropped 99 cents to $88.32 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange while January contracts for Brent crude were down 38 cents to $89.42 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex January contracts for unleaded gasoline and heating oil each traded unchanged at $2.25 per gallon and $2.51 per gallon respectively, while January natural gas fell 5 cents to $7.16 per million British thermal units.

Precious metals prices were higher on Tuesday in New York trade, but copper declined on continuing worries about demand.

February gold added $12.90 on the session to close at $807.60 per troy ounce as the US dollar weakened again versus the euro, while March silver gained 26 cents to $14.47 per troy ounce.

January platinum was up $10.90 to $1,472.30 per troy ounce as workers in South African platinum mines participated in a one-day strike over safety issues.

December palladium was $1.95 higher to $348.90 per troy ounce.

March copper was lower on the session, dropping 6 cents to $3.02 per pound in New York, while in London three-month copper fell $110 to $6,690 per tonne.

Among agricultural commodities, grains prices were higher.

December wheat on the Chicago Board of Trade added 20 cents to $8.75 per bushel while March contracts were up 17 cents to $8.94 per bushel.

CBOT January soybeans added almost 13 cents to $10.90 per bushel while March corn was up 7.75 cents to $4.11 per bushel.

Story link: Crude prices drop as precious metals, grains see gains