Corn Rallies, Gold Gains

Ivaylo
14 May, 2007
New York City

A surge in prices of corn, soybeans and wheat stole the spotlight in commodities futures trading on Friday. Precious metals futures climbed on the NYME with help from short covering, bargain-hunting buying and the weakness of the dollar. Copper futures also advanced on bargain-hunting and on spillover support from strong gains in precious metals. Crude oil futures reached a one-week closing high, buoyed by strength in gasoline futures on refinery glitches.

[R]5:30AM Corn, soybeans and wheat surge Friday, gold advances on bargain-hunting.[/R]

May corn advanced 15.25 cents to finish at $3.61 a bushel, July corn rallied 14.75 cents to $3.6925 a bushel. July soybeans gained 15.5 cents to close at $7.6175 a bushel, and November soybeans climbed 15.25 cents to $7.9075 a bushel. July wheat closed 11.5 cents higher at $4.93 a bushel, Kansas City Board of Trade July wheat rose 5 cents to $4.7675 a bushel.

June gold climbed $5.30 to finish at $672.30 an ounce, July silver added 16.5 cents to $13.305 an ounce, July platinum rose $17.50 to $1,341.70 an ounce, and June palladium futures ended $4.90 higher at $368.65 an ounce. The most-active July copper contract rose 3.75 cents to settle at $3.6040 per pound.

Crude oil for June delivery gained 56 cents, or 0.9%, to finish at $62.37 a barrel, the highest settlement for a front month contract since May 3. Front-month June gasoline futures advanced 2.6 cents, or 1.1%, to close at $2.3521 a gallon. June heating oil rose 1.98 cents, or 1.1%, to $1.8823 a gallon. Natural gas for June delivery finished at $7.899 a million British thermal units, up 17.3 cents or 2.2%.

On the New York Board of Trade, Arabica coffee futures declined, with July closing 0.85 cents lower at $1.0570 a pound, and September finishing 0.90 cents weaker at $1.0850 a pound. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports ended higher, but they stayed in the week''s trading range. July sugar settled 0.03 cents higher at 9.29 cents a pound. Most-active July cocoa rose $13 to settle at $1,935 a metric ton.