Crude oil, precious metals prices rise

Crude oil prices were volatile in New York on Monday, trading higher most of the day before falling in afternoon trade and then crossing back into gains on a surge right at the end of floor trade.

June contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude added 76 cents at the close to $127.05 per barrel, while at last report Brent crude for July delivery was trading 49 cents lower to $124.50 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Base metals prices fell on Monday as inventories climbed for several of the metals used in industrial applications.

Copper dropped 5 cents to $3.78 per pound in New York and was $124 lower to $8,320 per tonne in London while aluminium prices dropped $43 to $2,995 per tonne.

Zinc was down $77 to $2,288 per tonne while nickel fell $325 to $26,100 per tonne and tin dropped $600 to $24,050 per tonne after hitting a record high at $25,500 per tonne last Thursday.

On the other hand, precious metals saw gains as June gold added $5.90 to $905.80 per troy ounce in New York as investors looked for safe ways to protect their money from inflation while July silver was up 7 cents to $17.03 per troy ounce and July platinum gained $26.20 to $2,158.20 per troy ounce.

July soybean prices on the Chicago Board of Trade dropped 47 cents to $13.31 per bushel on the possibility that farmers in Argentina might end their strike as leaders of several farm groups were scheduled to meet to plan how to proceed in order to facilitate discussions with the government over export taxes.

CBOT July corn was also lower, falling 3 cents to $5.87 per bushel, but July wheat added 16 cents to $7.92 per bushel on demand and July rough rice gained 25 cents to $20.31 per 100 pounds.

Story link: Crude oil, precious metals prices rise