Crude oil, metals prices continue to fall

Crude oil prices fell again Thursday after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said demand for its supplies will fall 4.2 percent to 29.5 million barrels per day in 2009, and after a report from the US Labor Department which said first-time unemployment claims rose to 524,000 in the week ending 10 January.

West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery dropped $1.96 to $35.32 per barrel at the close of trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while February contracts for Brent crude, which expired at the end of the trading day, were down $1.09 to $43.99 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

The more active March contract for Brent crude dropped $2.08 to $45.54 per barrel in London.

Nymex February gasoline futures were down 6 cents to $1.11 per gallon in afternoon trade while March heating oil added 2 cents to $1.48 per gallon and March natural gas dropped 13 cents to $4.84 per million British thermal units.

Prices for base metals fell Thursday on the news that machinery orders in Japan dropped 16.2 percent in November over October as well as data showing that demand for copper and aluminium is still dropping in China and that manufacturing in the Philadelphia region of the United States contracted in January.

March copper was down 3 cents to $1.45 per pound in afternoon trade in New York, while three-month copper dropped $76 to $3,210 per tonne in afternoon trade in London.

At the same time, the price of aluminium in London dropped $25 to $1,470 per tonne as prices for other metals used in industry also declined.

Among precious metals, February gold was down $3.60 to $805.20 per troy ounce in afternoon trade in New York while March silver fell 3 cents to $10.45 per troy ounce and April platinum was $13.60 lower to $922.50 per troy ounce.

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