Crude prices rise, but gold falls slightly

Crude oil prices were higher Wednesday as the US dollar weakened again and on hopes that demand for diesel fuel will rise with shipments of merchandise to stores for holiday sales, and even though new US inventories data, due Thursday, is expected to show gains in crude oil inventories last week.

November contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were 86 cents higher to $75.01 per barrel at less than half an hour before the close of the floor trade session on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude had added 51 cents to $72.01 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

In afternoon trade, Nymex November gasoline futures were up 2 cents to $1.85 per gallon and November heating oil futures had added nearly 2 cents to $1.94 per gallon but November natural gas was 11 cents lower to $4.48 per million British thermal units.

Copper prices saw gains Wednesday on a report which showed that China imported nearly 100,000 tonnes more copper and related products in September than had been expected, 23 percent more than its August imports, but demand concerns lingered as London Metal Exchange inventories were up again during the session.

December copper was 5 cents higher to $2.84 per pound in New York trade while three-month copper added $80 to $6,220 per tonne in London.

Other base metals prices were mixed as zinc added $9 to $2,034 per tonne, lead was up $15 to $2,185 per tonne and nickel gained $395 to $18,550 per tonne, but aluminium dropped $2 to $1,905 per tonne and the last bid for tin, which went untraded, was down $150 to $14,250 per tonne.

Among precious metals, meanwhile, gold prices fell 40 cents to $1,064.60 per troy ounce after it fell a few dollars further earlier but recovered most of the losses by the close of floor trade in New York.

December silver added 8 cents to $17.92 per troy ounce and January platinum gained $5.90 to $1,366.60 per troy ounce, but in mid-morning trade December palladium was down $1 to $328.30 per troy ounce.

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