Crude, gold, platinum all touch record prices

Crude oil prices were higher again on Monday, hitting new record highs in both London and New York on geopolitical tensions in South America and Somalia and on the likelihood that OPEC will hold production quotas steady, before easing back slightly to more moderate gains.

April contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were 60 cents higher to $102.44 per barrel at the close of trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but not before rising to a new record high of $103.95 per barrel earlier in the session.

Brent crude also set a new record of $102.29 per barrel before settling back to a gain of 39 cents to trade at $100.49 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex April gasoline traded essentially even at $2.67 per gallon while April heating oil added 3 cents to $2.84 per gallon and April natural gas dropped 1 one cent to $9.36 per million British thermal units.

Both gold and platinum hit new record highs on the session Monday after crude oil prices also hit new records and the dollar once again touched a record low versus the euro.

April gold was up $8.20 to $983.20 per troy ounce in New York after touching a record $992 per troy ounce, while April platinum jumped $60.90 to a new record high of $2,241.60 per troy ounce.

Silver added 26 cents to $20.18 per troy ounce after rising as high as $20.74 per troy ounce.

Among base metals, May copper gained 7 cents to $3.93 per pound in New York and three-month copper in London was up $170 to $8,600 per tonne after London Metal Exchange stockpiles fell 1.6 percent to 141,375 tonnes.

Grains prices were also higher as May corn on the Chicago Board of Trade added 10 cents to $5.66 per bushel, May soybeans were up 23 cents to $15.59 per bushel and May wheat gained 30 cents to $11.16 per bushel.

Story link: Crude, gold, platinum all touch record prices