Oil, precious metals prices in significant gains

Crude oil prices soared in New York and London Wednesday on a weak dollar and falling US inventories.

May contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were up $4.98 to $106.20 per barrel in afternoon trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange while Brent crude added $3.24 to $103.34 on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex April gasoline was up 3 cents to $2.71 per gallon and May heating oil added 11 cents to $2.96 per gallon while May natural gas gained 19 cents to $9.71 per million British thermal units.

The US Energy Information Agency reported that inventories neither grew nor declined last week while gasoline stockpiles dropped 3.3 million barrels and distillates in storage fell 2.2 million barrels during the week.

Among precious metals, April gold added $13.60 to $948.60 per troy ounce in near the close of floor trade in New York, while May silver was up 58 cents to $18.38 and April platinum gained $26.70 to $2,012.60.

In industrial metals, meanwhile, May copper was up 4 cents to $3.72 per pound in New York.

Grains prices were mixed, with May corn on the Chicago Board of Trade adding 6.75 cents to $5.51 per bushel and CBOT May soybeans 40 cents higher to $13.47 per bushel on a strike in Argentina, but May wheat 32 cents lower to $10.35 per bushel.