Crude oil falls on US stockpile gain

Crude oil prices were lower in afternoon trade in New York on Wednesday after the US Energy Information Administration reported that crude inventories were up by 200,000 barrels in the week ending 21 August and distillates inventories were up by 800,000 barrels, but gasoline stockpiles dropped 1.7 million barrels during the week to 208.1 million barrels.

At nearly 1:30 p.m. on the US East Coast, October contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were 91 cents lower to $71.14 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while at last report Brent crude had dropped 67 cents to $71.15 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

In earlier trade, Nymex September gasoline futures were trading even at $2.01 per gallon while October heating oil was down 2 cents to $1.86 per gallon and October natural gas had dropped 3 cents to $3.26 per million British thermal units.

Precious metals prices were lower Wednesday, with gold falling on a stronger US dollar as the greenback was helped by a US Commerce Department report that durable goods orders that were up 4.9 percent in July and new home sales there were 9.6 percent higher during the same period.

The gains in home sales and durable goods orders were seen as a sign that the US economy is beginning to recover.

December gold was 20 cents lower to $945.80 per troy ounce in New York trade while December silver was down 6 cents to $14.29 per troy ounce and October platinum dropped $9.40 to $1,238.40 per troy ounce even though workers at a South African platinum mine remained on strike over wages.

Earlier, in mid-morning trade, the price for September palladium dropped $3.15 to $285.65 per troy ounce.

Among base metals, December copper traded about even at $2.88 per pound.

Grains prices were mixed in afternoon trade in Chicago, where September soybeans added less than a cent to $10.91 per bushel and September wheat was up 7 cents to $4.78 per bushel, but September corn dropped a cent to $3.20 per bushel.

Story link: Crude oil falls on US stockpile gain