Copper, Gold End Lower

Ivaylo
15 May, 2007
New York City

Intense selling undermined both base metals and precious metals futures alike Monday, pushing copper and platinum to new price declines. On the NYME, copper was hit by selling due to technical factors. The other precious metals also settled lower. In Nymex energy trading, nearby crude futures retreated from early gains and ended modestly higher. On the Chicago Board of Trade, soybean futures ended higher, while wheat futures finished with modest gains Monday.

[R]5:00AM Gold and copper declined Monday, while energy shares ended modestly higher.[/R]

The most active July copper contract ended 10.7 cents lower at $3.4970 per pound, while July platinum shed $12.40 to $1,329.30 an ounce. June gold finished down, $2.20 lower at $670.10 an ounce, July silver was off 7 cents at $13.235 an ounce, and June palladium shed $7.95 to $360.70 an ounce.

The June crude oil advanced 9 cents to $62.46 a barrel after rallying to $63.07 a barrel. June gasoline futures slipped 5.09 cents to settle at $2.3012 a gallon, and June heating oil dipped 1.55 cents to finish at $1.8668 a gallon. Natural gas for June delivery were supported by fund buying and closed 5.3 cents higher at $7.952 a million British thermal units Monday, after hitting a high of $8.112 in earlier trading.

July soybeans climbed 8.75 cents to $7.7050 a bushel, and November soybeans ended 8.75 cents stronger at $7.9950 a bushel. July wheat finished 3.5 cents higher at $4.9650 per bushel, while July corn declined 6 cents to $3.6325 a bushel.

Arabica coffee was aided by technical buying that sent the July contracts 1.15 cents higher at $1.0685 a pound and the September contracts 1.20 cents stronger at $1.0970 a pound. July raw sugar ended 0.18 cents lower at 9.11 cents a pound, while October sugar closed 0.14 cents weaker at 9.41 cents a pound.