US construction data affect oil, copper prices

Crude oil prices were up Tuesday in New York ahead of a new report on US stockpiles due Wednesday, new data from the Commerce Department on home construction and as a hurricane and a tropical storm developed in separate areas amid uncertainty about where they might strike and whether or not oil facilities would be in harms way.

At around 1:30 p.m. in New York, September contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were up $2.17 to $68.92 per barrel while, with September contracts ready to expire on Thursday, October contracts traded up $1.67 to $70.48 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude, meanwhile, traded 8 cents lower to $70.46 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

In mid-morning trade, Nymex September heating oil traded about even at $1.83 per gallon while September natural gas added a cent to $3.17 per million British thermal units.

Copper prices were mixed on Tuesday as September copper traded down a cent to $2.76 per pound in New York but was up slightly to $6,060 per tonne in London after US housing starts were reported down overall in July by the Commerce Department.

Starts on single-family units were said to be up 1.7 percent during the month, but apartment building starts were down.

While most other base metals prices rose, nickel dropped 0.5 percent to $19,000 per tonne in London.

Tin added 0.4 percent to $13,970 per tonne while lead and zinc each were up 1.6 percent, to $1,813 per tonne and $1,800 per tonne respectively, and aluminium gained 2.3 percent to $2,005 per tonne.

Meanwhile, among precious metals, December gold was up $3.40 to $939.20 per troy ounce in New York while October platinum was $9.50 higher to $1,232.10 per troy ounce and September palladium gained $4.60 to $272 per troy ounce, but silver dropped 2 cents to $13.96 per troy ounce on the session.

Grains prices were also mixed as September corn added less than a cent to $3.14 per bushel in afternoon trade in Chicago and September soybeans were 7 cents higher to $9.95 per bushel, but September what dropped a cent to $4.70 per bushel.

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