Commodities decline on strength in USD

Crude oil prices fell significantly Friday as the US dollar gained strength and as investors worried about falling demand and did not seem concerned about the sabotaged oil pipeline in Turkey or a military dispute involving Georgia and a break-away province and involving Russia.

September contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were $4.72 lower just before the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange to $115.30 per barrel while Brent crude was down $3.60 to $112.26 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

In afternoon trade, Nymex September gasoline had fallen 8 cents to $2.92 per gallon while September heating oil was also down 8 cents, to $3.15 per gallon, and September natural gas had dropped 25 cents to $8.32 per million British thermal units.

Metals prices were also down.

September copper was down 9 cents to $3.33 per pound in New York while three-month copper dropped $255 to $7,410 per tonne in London after going as low as $7,350 earlier in the session.

Other base metals also saw declines as zinc traded down at $1,663 per tonne, aluminium fell $68 to $2,850 per tonne, lead was $151 lower to $1,974 per tonne and nickel dropped $800 to $18,050 per tonne.

December gold was down $12.40 to $865 per troy ounce just before the close of floor trade in New York, while September silver was 94 cents lower to $15.32 per troy ounce and October platinum dropped $23 to $1,559.60 per troy ounce.

September contracts for wheat on the Chicago Board of Trade fell 59 cents to $7.63 per bushel on speculation that higher output in Europe and Australia could reduce demand for US crops, while CBOT December corn was down 24 cents per bushel and November soybeans dropped 57 cents to $11.82 per bushel in general price declines for commodities on the stronger dollar.

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