Rebounding Oil Supports Gold

Ivaylo
18 Jan, 2007
New York City

Gold futures settled higher Wednesday, hitting a two-week high as crude oil contracts rallied off their lows and the dollar declined. Natural gas dropped 6 percent after a forecast of warm weather. March silver futures climbed with gold, together with platinum and palladium, while copper futures were on the defensive for most of the session and declined at settlement. Arabica coffee futures ended slightly lower and raw sugar also fell. Corn and soybeans closed higher.

[R]5:00 AM Gold gains Wednesday as crude oil strengthen and the dollar slips.[/R]
At settlement, the most-active February gold gained $7.40 to end at $633.30 a troy ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. March silver futures advanced with gold and finished 26.5 cents higher at $12.89 an ounce. April platinum finished $8.80 stronger at $1,154.60 an ounce, and March palladium settled $7.10 higher at $342.95 an ounce. March copper futures were on the defensive for most of the session and shed 0.80 cents to settle at $2.5695 a pound.

Crude oil futures staged a late recovery and rose above $52 a barrel. The February crude contract gained $1.03 to close at $52.24 a barrel. February heating oil added 1.95 cents to finish at $1.4998 a gallon Wednesday. February gasoline settled at $1.3786 a gallon. February natural gas futures dipped 40.4 cents and ended at $6.234 a million British thermal units.

On the Chicago Board of Trade, soybean futures closed sharply higher. March soybeans ended 13.5 cents higher at $7.22 a bushel. In corn futures trading, the March contracts finished 5 cents higher to $4.08 per bushel. Arabica coffee futures finished slightly lower on the New York Board of Trade Wednesday, as March coffee closed 0.05 cent lower at $1.2160 a pound. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports declined, but they pared losses after trade house buying blunted a selloff. March sugar settled 0.15 cent lower at 10.76 cents a pound.