Crude prices fall as metals, grains follow lower

Crude oil prices fell Monday even as retail prices for gasoline in the United States continued its upward climb even though demand is still lagging.

July contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude was down $1.42 to $70.62 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude fell $1.60 to $69.32 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex July gasoline futures added a cent to $2.05 per gallon while the at-the-pump price for gasoline gained 0.6 cent to $2.669 per gallon on average nationally, according to AAA.

Nymex July heating oil futures, meanwhile, fell 2 cents to $1.82 per gallon while July natural gas added 31 cents to $4.17 per million British thermal units.

Base metals prices were lower as September copper was down 9 cents to $2.30 per pound in New York trade, while three-month copper was $185 lower to $5,050 per tonne in afternoon trade on the London Metal Exchange.

Aluminium, tin, nickel, lead, and zinc were all also lower in London trade, dropping by 2.7 to 6.1 percent during the day.

The stronger dollar also pushed gold prices lower despite Macquarie Group’s prediction that the price of gold will average $952 per troy ounce this year, a prediction that is 2.7 percent higher than an earlier forecast.

August gold was down $13.20 to $927.50 per troy ounce in New York trade while July silver fell 85 cents to $14.03 per troy ounce and July platinum dropped $45 to $1,213.70 per troy ounce.

Grains prices followed the trend as July wheat fell 9 cents to $5.75 per bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade while July corn was down 19 cents to $4.06 per bushel and July soybeans dropped 48 cents to $11.97 per bushel.

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