Crude prices up; most metals decline

The price of crude oil was higher Friday after Turkish troops crossed the border into northern Iraq in response to attacks on Turkish soil by Kurdish militants, raising fears that if the conflict widens oil supplies out of Iraq could be interrupted.

West Texas Intermediate crude April contracts were up 55 cents to $98.78 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for April delivery added 77 cents to $97.01 per barrel.

Nymex April heating oil was 3 cents higher to $2.75 per gallon while March gasoline was up 2 cents to $2.54 per gallon and April natural gas gained 32 cents to $9.21 per million British thermal units.

Precious metals prices were mostly lower Friday.

The exception was March silver, which added 9 cents to $18.04 per troy ounce in New York.

April gold dropped $1.40 to $947.80 per troy ounce, while April platinum was down $20.40 to $2,167.80 per troy ounce.

For base metals, the exception was three-month tin, which added $170 to $17,570 per tonne in London.

May copper dropped 2 cents to $3.80 per pound in New York while three-month copper in London was $80 lower to $8,350 per tonne on much higher stockpiles reported in both London and Shanghai.

Meanwhile, three-month aluminium was down $26 to $2,920 per tonne, zinc fell $40 to $2,500 per tonne, lead was $136 lower to $3,260 per tonne, and nickel dropped $850 to $28,400 per tonne.

Grains prices were mixed.

May corn on the Chicago Board of Trade dropped 2.5 cents to $5.34 per bushel, but CBOT May soybeans added 13.5 cents to a near-record $14.38 per bushel on the possibility that China will increase imports and May wheat gained 19 cents to $10.64 per bushel on worries that dry weather will reduce crop yields.

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