Oil prices near $60 per barrel in New York

Crude oil prices were lower again Wednesday on news from the US Energy Information Administration that while oil stockpiles were lower last week, stockpiles of gasoline and distillates both increased during the week ending 3 July.

August contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were down $2.79 to $60.14 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange while Brent crude dropped $2.02 to $61.21 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

The EIA’s new data showed that crude oil inventories fell by 2.9 million barrels last week but that gasoline stockpiles were 1.9 million barrels higher and distillates in storage gained 3.7 million barrels during the week.

Nymex August gasoline futures were lower, dropping 10 cents to $1.63 per gallon while August heating oil futures fell 6 cents to $1.54 per gallon and August natural gas also dropped 6 cents, to $3.37 per million British thermal units.

Copper prices were hurt by a new report that machinery orders were down 3 percent in May in Japan, raising concerns about demand for copper for use in manufacturing.

September copper was down 7 cents to $2.16 per pound in New York trade, while three-month copper dropped $160 to $4,720 per tonne after going $10 per tonne lower than that in trade earlier in the session on the London Metal Exchange.

Aluminium ended the session $68 below Tuesday’s close at $1,550 per tonne, while lead was down $45 to $1,610 per tonne, zinc fell $55 to $1,510 per tonne, nickel was $700 lower to $14,950 per tonne and tin dropped $830 to $13,295 per tonne.

Among precious metals, gold was down after a one-day gain Tuesday to close $19.80 lower to $909.30 per troy ounce while September silver was down 37 cents to $12.85 per troy ounce, October platinum fell $34 to $1,101.80 per troy ounce and, earlier in the day, Septebmer palladium dropped $3.65 to $236.85 per troy ounce.

Grains prices were mixed in afternoon trade in Chicago, where July corn added 3 cents to $3.39 per bushel and July wheat was up 6 cents to $4.89 per bushel but July soybeans dropped 48 cents to $10.85 per bushel.

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