Crude, metals prices rise on data

Crude oil prices were up in New York at the end of floor trade after being up and down all session, rising as the dollar fell and falling as the dollar rose.

The gains on the session were helped by new data showing that consumer confidence was down less than had been expected in August and that the US economy didn’t contract as much as had been expected in the second quarter.

October contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were up 37 cents to $72.84 per barrel a couple of minutes before the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while at last report Brent crude was 61 cents higher to $73.12 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

December copper was 8 cents higher to $2.95 per pound in New York trade, while three-month copper added $200 to $6,475 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange even though inventories in LME-monitored warehouses added 1,375 tonnes to 298,925 tonnes.

Prices for other base metals also rose.

Lead rose as high as $2,149 per tonne, the highest price in a year, before settling back to a gain of $97 to $2,107 per tonne while aluminium was up $16 to $1,900 per tonne even though London inventories added 625 tonnes during the day, remaining above 4.6 million tonnes.

Zinc added $50 to $1,881 per tonne, tin jumped $105 to $14,100 per tonne despite gains in inventories to multi-year highs for both and while nickel was untraded at the end of the session, it was up $275 to $19,030 in its last bids.

Precious metals prices were up as well, with December gold adding $12.20 to $959.50 per troy ounce while December silver was 57 cents higher to $14.83 per troy ounce and October platinum gained $5.40 to $1,245.90 per troy ounce.

Grains prices were mixed in afternoon trade in Chicago as September soybeans added another 22 cents to $11.36 per bushel but September corn was down 2 cents to $3.20 per bushel and September wheat dropped 6 cents to $4.68 per bushel.

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