Crude prices rise after EIA US inventories numbers

Crude oil prices rose significantly Wednesday after the US Energy Information Administration released its weekly inventories report, which showed that gasoline stockpiles were lower in the week ending 25 September.

Gasoline inventories dropped by 1.6 million barrels in the US last week, against an expected rise of 1.2 million barrels, sending prices higher even though crude oil stockpiles rose by 2.8 million barrels during the week, more of a gain than expected, while distillates were up by a modest 300,000 barrels.

November contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were up $3.51 to $70.22 per barrel just before the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange while Brent crude was $3.06 higher to $68.55 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex October gasoline futures added 12 cents to $1.75 per gallon while November heating oil was up 10 cents to $1.83 per gallon but November natural gas dropped 10 cents to $4.78 per million British thermal units.

December copper was up 9 cents to $2.82 per pound in New York, while three-month copper added $175 to $6,155 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange even though LME inventories were up by another 1,425 tonnes during the session and some analysts are still worried about declines in demand from China.

Some of the price gains for copper were attributed to buying ahead of a week of holidays set to begin soon in China.

Other base metals were also higher as aluminium added $38 to $1,890 per tonne even though LME inventories were up 3,075 tonnes on the session, while lead was up $52 to $2,284 per tonne, zinc was $85 higher to $1,968 per tonne, tin added $500 to $14,900 per tonne and nickel gained $705 to $17,850 per tonne.

Precious metals prices were also higher on the weaker dollar as December gold added $14.90 to $1,009.30 per troy ounce while December silver was up 48 cents to $16.66 per troy ounce and January platinum gained $24.70 to $1,302.90 per troy ounce.

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