Oil, metals, grains prices all rise on session

The price of crude oil rose to $100 per barrel in New York on Wednesday .

After rising to the $100 level, West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery ended the floor session $3.64 higher to $99.62 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude was up $3.12 to $97.59 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Prices rose on a report that OPEC will be unable to meet oil demand as soon as 2024 unless production capacity is increased, on news that there was more violence in Nigeria, and ahead of US inventories numbers for last week, which are due Thursday.

Meanwhile in the United States, the White House said it will not dip into the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help send prices lower.

Metals prices were also higher on the session.

Gold prices were significantly higher in New York on Wednesday after the dollar dropped versus the euro once again and oil hit the $100 per barrel level for the first time in history.

February gold rose as high as $864.50 per troy ounce, its highest since January 1980, and ended the session up $22.50 over its previous close to $860.50 per troy ounce.

March silver was also substantially higher, adding 37 cents to $15.29 per troy ounce while April platinum added $6.50 to $1,546 per troy ounce.

Base metals prices rose Wednesday despite concerns that demand will drop after a report from the Institute for Supply Management that US manufacturing activity had contracted in December.

March copper in New York added 2 cents to $3.06 per pound while three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up $85 to $6,755 per tonne, down from its early-session peak of $6,820 per tonne.

Zinc also added $85 on the session in London, to close at $2,402 per tonne and aluminium gained $31 to $2,451 per tonne while three-month lead was up $65 to $2,615 per tonne and nickel gained $850 to $27,200 per tonne.

Grains prices soared after China put a 5 percent export tax on corn, rice and soybeans and a 20 percent tax on wheat.

March corn on the Chicago Board of Trade added 7 cents to $4.63 per bushel while March soybeans jumped 34.5 cents to $12.50 per bushel..

March CBOT wheat added its daily limit of 30 cents to $9.15 per bushel, while May contracts jumped 29 cents to $9.22 per bushel.

Story link: Oil, metals, grains prices all rise on session