Precious metals higher; crude oil above $133 per barrel

Crude oil prices shot above $133 per barrel, approaching $134 per barrel at times in after hours trade, on Wednesday after US crude oil inventories declined unexpectedly and distillates stockpiles rose less than had been anticipated.

The US Energy Information Administration said, in its weekly US inventories report, that crude oil stockpiles dropped 5.4 million barrels in the week ending 16 May, while gasoline inventories dropped 800,000 barrels to 209.4 million barrels and distillates only added 700,000 barrels in the week.

July contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude closed at $133.17 per barrel, adding more than $4 on the session on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude jumped $4.34 to $132.18 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Surging oil prices pulled precious metals prices higher as well, aided by a weaker dollar.

June gold added $8.60 to $928.80 per troy ounce, while July silver was up 33 cents to $18.05 per troy ounce and July platinum jumped $73.30 to $2,221.10 per troy ounce.

Among base metals, however, July copper was 3 cents lower to $3.74 per pound in New York, while three-month copper dropped $85 to $8,240 per tonne in London as inventories in London Metal Exchange warehouses added 2,300 tonnes during the day.

Grains prices were mixed, with July soybeans adding 17 cents to $13.49 per bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade while CBOT July corn was gained 18 cents to $6.08 per bushel but July wheat dropped 6 cents to $7.77 per bushel.

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