Silver, Copper Rise, Gold Declines

Ivaylo
04 Sep, 2006
Metals

Copper prices gained slightly on Friday in spite of the end of a strike by miners in Chile, as traders settled positions before the three-day Labor Day weekend. Gold and silver futures closed slightly mixed after early weakness. Some of the rebound was linked to a reluctance to be short before the weekend, due to some of the ongoing tensions in the Middle East.

[R]5:00AM Silver and copper futures advanced Friday, while gold retreated.[/R]
December gold declined $1.60 to $632.60 a troy ounce on the NYME, up from a low of $628. December silver managed to end up 4 cents to $13.07 after an earlier low of $12.825. October platinum rose $3.60 to $1,254.80 an ounce, while December palladium gained 90 cents to $349.60. December copper gained 0.50 cent to settle at $3.4610 per pound.

Crude oil futures in New York dropped below $70 a barrel Friday after widely watched hurricane forecaster Colorado State University cut its 2006 Atlantic tropical storm season forecast for the second time. The front-month October light, sweet crude contract finished $1.07 lower at $69.19 a barrel. October gasoline closed down 4.87 cents to $1.7344 a gallon, while September natural gas settled down 17.1 cents at $5.877 a million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, September Arabica coffee closed down 0.60 cent at $1.0340 a pound while December lost 0.40 cent to $1.0760. October futures of raw sugar in foreign ports retreated, breaking Thursday''s low as funds sold in late action and sinking to a new 9-month low of 11.26 cents per pound. October finished 0.41 cent lower at 11.39 cents a pound.