Crude prices up while metals, grains were mixed

Crude oil prices saw gains Wednesday, a day before the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is scheduled to meet in Vienna to decide on what to do about production quotas.

The cartel is widely expected to hold quotas at current levels, especially after Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said that there is “no need” to cut production, even though there are estimated to be around 100 million barrels of oil in storage on tankers at sea because storage facilities on land are full and the US Energy Information Administration is likely to report tomorrow that US inventories of crude oil added nearly 2 million barrels last week.

West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery had added 82 cents to $63.27 per barrel just before the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude was up 91 cents to $62.15 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

July copper was 2 cents lower to $2.12 per pound in New York, but three-month copper was up $5 to $4,665 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange after inventories in LME warehouses fell for the 14th session in a row to 319.275 tonnes and after Shanghai-monitored stockpiles were reported down as well.

Prices for most other base metals were also lower, including a $42 decline for aluminium to $1,410 per tonne, but lead saw gains as it traded at $1,450 per tonne in London.

Among precious metals, August gold was up 40 cents to $955.50 per troy ounce while July silver added 27 cents to $14.87 per troy ounce and July platinum was $1.30 higher to $1.141.10 per troy ounce.

Grains prices were also mixed as July wheat added 15 cents to $6.27 per bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade but CBOT July soybeans dropped less than a cent to $11.85 per bushel and July corn was down 1 cent to $4.26 per bushel.

Story link: Crude prices up while metals, grains were mixed