Commodities Summary – Oil, Copper Down, Gold Slightly Higher
Prices of major commodities remained uneasy as Eurozone leaders continued to debate on how to address their financial crises.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for December delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange shed $US1.41 to close at $US97.41, while the benchmark Brent North Sea crude for January delivery in London dropped 66 US cents to $US107.56 a barrel.
The price slid in oil resulted from the word tussle between the European Central Bank and European Union leaders over how to gather enough funds to effectively provide fiscal blanket security over the entire eurozone.
The gap between the two key oil futures contracts widened to more than $US30 in late September as blockages at the key US trading and storage hub of Cushing, Oklahoma caused
distribution problems.
Safe haven gold closed slightly higher amid persistent eurozone debt worries.
Gold recovered its basis after Thursday's sell-off after losing 3.5 per cent this week, its worst performance in nearly two months.
News that euro zone and International Monetary Fund officials had discussed to work together to gather sufficient resources to address the region's debt crisis led the yellow metal to rise in tandem with the S&P 500.
US December gold futures grew $US4.90 to $US1,725.10 an ounce. Trading volume topped its 30-day norm for a third straight session.
Spot gold edged down 0.2 per cent at $US1,724.40 an ounce by 2.53pm EST (0653 Saturday AEDT). In the previous session, bullion fell 2.5 per cent and hit a two-and-a-half-week low at $US1,709.64 an ounce.
Prices of copper gave its third consecutive weekly loss, but recovered in after-hours business as Wall Street tacked on some late gains and the US dollar eased.
Benchmark copper at the London Metal Exchange (LME) eased $US20, closing at $US7,525 a tonne. After the close, prices recuperated to positive territory above $US7,550 as the US equity markets kept on to gains.
The key December COMEX contract in New York closed 1.95 US cents at $US3.4020 per lb, near the upper end of its $US3.3310 to $US3.4405 session range. However, it was below the 50-day moving average.
The Shanghai Futures Exchange said its monitored copper inventories tumbled 11.0 per cent from last Friday, while LME copper stockpiles dropped 1,375 tonnes to 398,250 tonnes, the lowest since February.