Crude prices fall, gold gains in New York

Crude oil prices fell slightly in New York trade on Thursday after the Institute for Supply Management services index fell unexpectedly and as the US dollar strengthened.

January contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 14 cents to $76.46 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but at last report January Brent crude was 48 cents higher to $78.36 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Also hurting prices was a report from the US Energy Information Administration which reported that demand for all oil products was down by 2.6 percent and gasoline demand 1.6 percent lower.

In a separate report, the EIA said that natural gas inventories were up by 2 billion cubic feet last week, sending Nymex January natural gas futures 7 cents lower to $4.46 per million British thermal units after going as low as $4.432 per mBtu earlier in the session, the lowest futures price for natural gas in a y ear.

January gasoline futures on Nymex were up less than a cent to $1.99 per gallon, while January heating oil futures added 1 cent to $2.05 per gallon.

Gold prices reached another new peak in New York Thursday at $1,227.50 per troy ounce before ending the session below its high but still above Wednesdsay’s close.

February gold ended the floor trade session up $5.30 to $1,218.30 per troy ounce in New York trade, but March silver was 20 cents lower to $19.13 per troy ounce and January platinum dropped $12.60 to $1,493.70 per troy ounce.

Among base metals, March copper was down a cent to $3.25 per pound in New York, while three-month copper fell slightly to $7,120 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange, with declines coming on the drop in the ISM’s services index as investors worried that delays in recovery could slow recover in demand for the metal used in manufacturing and construction.

Other base metals also saw price declines in London.

Story link: Crude prices fall, gold gains in New York