Crude oil, grains see gains; most metals prices drop

The price of crude oil was higher after the US Energy Information Administration reported that inventories of crude dropped much more than had been expected last week.

The EIA said that crude oil stockpiles fell by 5.9 million barrels in the week ending 4 September to 337.5 million barrels, but gasoline inventories were up 2.1 million barrels to 207.2 million barrels last week, while distillates in storage added 2 million barrels to 165.6 million barrels during the week.

October contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude was 23 cents higher to $71.54 per barrel at just past 1:30 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while at last report Brent crude had added 8 cents to $69.91 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Earlier, in morning trade Nymex October gasoline futures had dropped 4 cents to $1.79 per gallon while October heating oil traded even, also at $1.79 per gallon, and October natural gas had fallen 8 cents to $2.75 per million British thermal units.

Copper prices were lower as analysts and investors worried that demand will decline, based on increases in stockpiles in warehouses monitored by both the London Metal Exchange and the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

LME stockpiles have added 24 percent in less than two months and now stand at 317,575 tonnes, while Shanghai inventories have gained in each of the past six weeks.

December copper was 5 cents lower to $2.88 per pound in New York trade, while three-month copper was last reported at $165 lower to $6,250 per tonne in London, a decline of 2.6 percent, while other base metals prices were also lower on the session.

Most precious metals were also lower, although December silver added 20 cents to $16.67 per troy ounce in New York trade.

December gold was down 30 cents to $996.80 per troy ounce in New York, while October platinum dropped $1.70 to $1,290.60 per troy ounce.

Grains prices were higher in afternoon trade in Chicago, where September corn added 3 cents to $3.08 per bushel while September wheat was up 5 cents to $4.34 per bushel and September soybeans gained 11 cents to $9.73 per bushel.

Story link: Crude oil, grains see gains; most metals prices drop