Crude oil up; gold hits new record high

Crude oil prices were higher again Tuesday, gaining on a US dollar that weakened further, after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries predicted that demand for oil will grow next year but that recovery will be slow, and on predictions of cold weather for parts of the US that is expected to raise demand for heating oil.

November contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude added 88 cents to $74.15 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange while Brent crude added 51 cents to $71.87 per barrel at last report from the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex November gasoline and December heating oil each added 3 cents in afternoon trade, to $1.83 per gallon and $1.95 per gallon respectively, while November natural gas futures dropped 29 cents to $4.59 per million British thermal units.

The price of gold reached another new record in New York trade on Tuesda after the US dollar weakened again and on fears that inflation will go up, with prices for the precious metal rising to $1,069.70 per troy ounce before closing the floor trade session up $7.10 from Monday’s close to $1,064.60 per troy ounce.

December silver added 2 cents to $17.84 per troy ounce and January platinum gained $13.40 to $1,360.70 per troy ounce while in earlier, mid-morning, trade December palladium was up $2.25 to $332.05 per troy ounce.

Among base metals, on the other hand, December copper fell 6 cents to $2.79 per pound in New York trade while three-month copper dropped $135 to $6,140 per tonne after going as low as $6,055.25 per tonne earlier in London on expectations that China imported less copper in September than it did in August and after London Metal Exchange inventories were up by 575 tonnes during the session to 347,950 tonnes.

Also hurting prices was a statement from the CEO of miner Rio Tinto’s copper operations that demand has not yet begun to recover yet in the US and Europe and is not expected to do so until later in the year.

Aluminium prices were $40 lower to $1,907 per tonne despite a decline of 2,425 tonnes in LME inventories, which nonetheless remained near record highs, while zinc was down $69 to $2,025 per tonne, tin fell $275 to $14,400 per tonne, nickel dropped $665 to $18,155 per tonne, and lead ended the session lower at $2,170 per tonne.

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