Crude down; metals up; grains mixed

Crude oil prices fell in afternoon trade Wednesday despite a report from the US Energy Information Administration that said crude oil stockpiles in the US dropped by nearly 4 million barrels last week.

At an hour before the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, August contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude had dropped $1.06 to $68.83 per barrel.

The EIA said in its weekly inventories report that US crude oil inventories were down 3.7 million barrels, more than had been expected, while gasoline stockpiles grew by 2.3 million barrels last week to 211.2 million barrels and distillates in storage grew by 2.9 million barrels to 155 million barrels.

Earlier in the day, crude prices rose above $71 per barrel after a private survey by the American Petroleum Institute, a trade association representing the oil industry, said Tuesday that crude oil stockpiles had fallen by 6.8 million barrels last week.

Nymex August gasoline futures were also lower, down 3 cents to $1.90 per gallon in afternoon trade, while August heating oil futures had dropped more than 2 cents to $1.76 per gallon.

Copper prices were up after China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 53.2 in June, up a tenth of a point from May’s reading of 53.1, and US data showed that contraction in the manufacturing sector there has slowed.

September copper added 6 cents to $2.33 per pound in New York while three-month copper was up $172.25 to $5,139.25 per tonne in London.

Among other base metals, nickel was 7.3 percent higher to $16,499 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange, while tin gained 4.6 percent to $14,800 per tonne, lead was up 3.6 percent to $1,750 per tonne, zinc added 3.3 percent to $1,600 per tonne and aluminium was up 3.1 percent to $1,680 per tonne.

Meanwhile, gold and other precious metals were higher on a weaker dollar, which fell following a private report from ADP Employer Services which showed that the US private sector lost another 473,000 jobs in June and ahead of official Labor Department figures that are slated for release tomorrow.

August gold was up $14.10 to $941.50 per troy ounce while September silver added 16 cents to $13.76 per troy ounce and October platinum gained $19.80 to $1,205.10 per troy ounce.

Grains prices were mixed as July corn was up 2 cents to $3.50 per bushel and July soybeans added 30 cents to $12.57 per bushel but July wheat dropped 5 cents to $5.06 per bushel.

Story link: Crude down; metals up; grains mixed