New York, London oil prices fall

Crude oil prices were a bit lower, dropping in both New York and London Tuesday as worries over the Iran situation took a back seat to continuing concerns about demand after some analysts said the dispute between Iran and the west over nuclear installations in Iran would not likely produce supply disruptions.

November contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were down 13 cents to $66.71 per barrel by shortly before the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude dropped 9 cents to $65.45 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

The worries about demand came as the US Energy Information Administration issued a revised estimate for oil demand in July, putting at 4 percent below last year in the same month with demand 133,000 barrels per day less than earlier believed, ahead of the EIA’s weekly inventories report, due Wednesday, and after the Conference Board said that US consumer confidence dropped unexpectedly in September.

The retail price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States fell another 1.2 cents overnight to $2.487 per gallon.

December copper was essentially unchanged in New York, trading at $2.73 per pound, while three-month copper on the LME dropped $29 to $5,980 per tonne despite a decline in stockpiles of 125 tonnes that nonetheless left inventories near their highest levels in four months.

Copper was also lower on concerns about demand in China ahead of week-long holidays there.

Aluminium prices also fell despite another decline of 2,850 tonnes in LME inventories during the session, dropping $31 to $1,852 per tonne, while tin went untraded, with its last bids even at $14,400 per tonne, zinc prices were up $5 to $1,883 per tonne, lead added $25 to $2,232 per tonne and nickel gained $395 to $17,145 per tonne.

Gold saw slight gains, with December gold adding 30 cents to $994.40 per troy ounce after earlier declines on variations in the US dollar, but December silver fell 2 cents to $16.18 per troy ounce and January platinum was down $12.60 to $1,278.20 per troy ounce.

Earlier, in midmorning trade, December palladium was also lower, dropping $3.30 to $290.60 per troy ounce.

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