Oil, metals prices fall on demand concerns

Prices for crude oil dropped Wednesday on the weekly inventories report from the US Energy Information Administration, which showed that US stockpiles for crude oil, gasoline, and distillates were all up last week, and as concerns continued that demand will continue to decline.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil for December delivery was $5.28 lower to $66.90 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange while at last report Brent crude was down $5.14 to $64.58 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange in London.

Nymex November gasoline futures were down 11 cents to $1.58 per gallon while December heating oil fell 9 cents to $1.20 per gallon and January natural gas dropped 4 cents to $7.28 per million British thermal units.

Crude oil stockpiles added 3.2 million barrels while gasoline inventories were up 2.7 million barrels and distillates in stock climbed by 2.2 million barrels during the week ending 17 October.

Demand concerns and a stronger dollar also drove metals prices lower.

December copper was down 14 cents to $1.87 per pound in New York while three-month copper dropped $340 to $4,160 per tonne in London as inventories in London Metal Exchange warehouses added 1,850 tonnes on the session.

Zinc was down $25 to $1,140 per tonne while aluminium fell $26 to $2,002 per tonne, lead fell about $110 to $1,260/$1,261 per tonne, nickel was about $700 lower to $10,000 per tonne and tin dropped $750 to $11,550 per tonne.

December gold was down $33.50 to $734.50 per troy ounce in New York, while December silver fell 62 cents to $9.46 per troy ounce and January platinum dropped $34.50 to $857.20 per troy ounce.

Grains prices fell on the Chicago Board of Trade.

CBOT December corn fell 26 cents to $3.85 per bushel while December wheat was down 31 cents to $5.17 per bushel and November soybeans dropped 49 cents to $8.59 per bushel.

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