Oil prices drop; metals mixed as grains rise

Crude oil prices were lower in Monday after it seemed that demand for oil and gasoline in the United States was falling just as OPEC began to raise production in practice if not as a policy measure, but declines were limited by a number of factors.

Near the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery had dropped 40 cents to $87.88 per barrel while January contracts for Brent crude was down 53 cents to $88.11 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex January gasoline was 2 cents lower to $2.25 per gallon and January heating oil fell 3 cents to $2.48 per gallon while January natural gas dropped 13 cents to $7.03 per million British thermal units.

Precious metals prices gained in New York.

February gold added $13.30 to $813.50 per troy ounce, while March silver jumped 35 cents to $14.85 per troy ounce and January platinum was up $4.10 to $1,466.30 per troy ounce.

Base metals prices, however, were mostly lower

March copper was down 3 cents to $3.09 per pound in New York, while three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell $50 to $6,860 per tonne.

Three-month nickel dropped $1,100 to $25,300 per tonne in London and lead fell as low as $2,540 per tonne during the session while zinc and aluminium were down by lesser amounts, to $2,429.75 per tonee and $2,468 per tonne respectively, and tin remained steady.

Grains prices were higher on the Chicago Board of Trade.

March corn added half a cent to $4.17 per bushel.

January soybeans gained 6 cents to $11.25 per bushel on reduced crop forecasts in Brazil while at one point in the session the price went as high as $11.27 per bushel, a 34-year high.

Meanwhile CBOT wheat contracts for March added 8 cents to $9.29 per bushel and were up as high as $9.49 per bushel earlier in the session, while May contracts added 11 cents to $9.30 per bushel.

Wheat prices rose on demand from India, while Pakistan might also be interested in buying.

Story link: Oil prices drop; metals mixed as grains rise