Copper Rises Again, Gold Edges Higher

Ivaylo
12 Apr, 2007
New York City

Copper futures gained once again Wednesday, supported by ongoing demand from China. In precious metals trading, gold ended nearly unchanged, and silver ended slightly lower. Platinum and palladium finished higher with help from fund buying. In Nymex energy trading, crude oil futures gained, but contracts for deferred delivery settled lower after the Energy Information Administration posted a mixed inventory report.

[R]5:00AM Copper continues its upper trend, gold and silver end unchanged.[/R]
The most-active May copper advanced 5.65 cents to end at $3.5825 per pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange. June gold added 20 cents to $681.70 a troy ounce, while May silver shed 4 cents to $13.89 an ounce. July platinum advanced $7.70 to $1,281.30 an ounce, while June palladium gained $6.10 to $369.55 an ounce.

May crude oil futures climbed 12 cents to finish at $62.01 a barrel, after reaching an intraday high of $62.56 a barrel. June crude lost 4 cents to $64.84 a barrel. May gasoline futures advanced 3.57 cents to end at $2.1587 a gallon, an eight-month high, after hitting $2.1700 a gallon Wednesday. May heating oil added 1.86 cents to settle $1.8747 a gallon. Front-month May gas futures closed 1.4 cents lower at $7.855 a million British thermal units.

Arabica coffee futures settled slightly higher in range-trading. May coffee ended 0.20 cents higher at $1.0945 a pound, while July coffee settled 0.20 cents stronger at $1.1235 a pound. May corn finished 8.25 cents lower at $3.6075 a bushel, July corn closed 8.5 cents lower at $3.7275 a bushel, and December corn settled 6.75 cents lower at $3.8775 a bushel.