Copper Plunges, Gold Declines

Ivaylo
28 Mar, 2007
New York City

Copper futures lost some steam and declined Tuesday as investors took profits following a recent run-up in prices. Most precious metals also lost ground ahead of a Congressional appearance Wednesday by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. In energy trading on the Nymex, crude oil futures pared early losses and ended in positive territory Tuesday.

[R]5:00AM Copper, gold declined Tuesday, while energy stocks gained.[/R]
The most-active May copper declined 8.10 cents to settle at $3.0575 per pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange. April gold shed $1.40 to finish at $662.50 a troy ounce, while May silver lost 13 cents to $13.28 an ounce. June palladium was off $3 to $356 an ounce, but April platinum rose $5.50 to $1,242 an ounce.

The May crude oil contract gained 2 cents to finish at $62.93 a barrel. April RBOB gasoline advanced 0.53 cent to $2.0730 a gallon after hitting a new seven-month, intraday high of $2.0850 a gallon. April heating oil futures ended up 1.03 cent at $1.7864 a gallon and April natural gas futures gained 24.9 cents, or 3.4%, to settle at $7.503 a million British thermal units, the highest close since Feb. 27. Natural gas futures were boosted by a weather forecast of stronger hurricanes this year in the Gulf of Mexico, which could pose a risk to production in the region.

Arabica coffee futures also dropped. May coffee closed 1.9 cent lower at 1.1245 a pound, while July finished 1.9 cent weaker at $1.1525 a pound. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports settled higher though, with May sugar closing 0.11 cent higher at 10.11 cents a pound, and July sugar finishing 0.12 cent stronger at 10.17 cents a pound.