Copper Futures Rise Again
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NEW YORK (AP) - Copper futures climbed again Wednesday, boosted by ongoing strong demand from China, traders and analysts said.
The most-active May copper contract rose 5.65 cents to settle at $3.5825 per pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices peaked in overnight screen trading at $3.6235 a pound, their strongest level since last May, before paring their gain some on what traders called profit-taking.
"Right now, the story in copper is the strength in world economies. China remains the center focus and there are stories circulating that the supplies are not going to be adequate in China," said Michael Gross, broker and futures analyst with Liberty Trading. "The demand is still there. There are some worries supplies aren't going to be there, and prices are adjusting to that outlook."
In precious metals trading, gold finished nearly unchanged, and silver ended slightly softer.
June gold rose 20 cents to $681.70 a troy ounce, while May silver fell 4 cents to $13.89 an ounce.
Platinum and palladium settled higher, however, with help from fund buying. July platinum rose $7.70 to $1,281.30 an ounce, while June palladium climbed $6.10 to $369.55 an ounce.
In Nymex energy trading, front-month crude oil futures rose, but contracts for deferred delivery ended lower after the Energy Information Administration released a mixed inventory report.
The report showed that U.S. gasoline stockpiles had a much larger-than-expected 5.5 million barrel drop to 199.7 million barrels last week, while crude stocks increased by 700,000 barrels to 333.4 million barrels and distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose by 100,000 barrels to 118.1 million barrels.
May crude futures rose 12 cents to finish at $62.01 a barrel, after hitting an intraday high of $62.56 a barrel. June crude slipped 4 cents to $64.84 a barrel. Other deferred contracts ended in negative territory.
May gasoline futures gained 3.57 cents to finish at $2.1587 a gallon, an eight-month high, after rising as high as $2.1700 a gallon Wednesday.
May heating oil added 1.86 cents to settle $1.8747 a gallon.
Front-month May gas futures settled 1.4 cents lower at $7.855 a million British thermal units.
On the New York Board of Trade, cocoa futures rose on industry buying and speculative short-covering. May cocoa rose $17 to settle at $1,900 a metric ton, and July gained $15 to close at $1,930 a ton.
Arabica coffee futures ended slightly higher in range-trading. May coffee finished 0.20 cents higher at $1.0945 a pound, while July coffee settled 0.20 cents stronger at $1.1235 a pound.
On the Chicago Board of Trade, corn futures ended lower across the board, falling on corn/soybean spread unwinding amid weather forecasts raising the potential for farmers to return to planting corn next week in the Midwest.
May corn settled 8.25 cents lower at $3.6075 a bushel, July corn ended 8.5 cents lower at $3.7275 a bushel, and December corn finished 6.75 cents lower at $3.8775 a bushel.
Wheat futures finished modestly lower as declines in the neighboring corn market weighed on prices, traders and analysts said.
CBOT May wheat closed 1.5 cents lower at $4.5625 a bushel, Kansas City Board of Trade May wheat ended 1.5 cents lower at $4.76 a bushel, and Minneapolis Grain Exchange May wheat finished 2.75 cents lower at $5.05 a bushel.
Meanwhile, CBOT soybean futures ended higher, stabilizing from prior losses on the unwinding of corn/soybean spreads, analysts said.
May soybeans ended 4 cents higher at $7.4650 a bushel, July soybeans settled 3.5 cents higher at $7.64 a bushel, and November soybeans finished 4.25 cents higher at $7.9175 a bushel. May soymeal settled 30 cents higher at $205.10 per short ton. May soyoil ended 0.32 cents higher at 32.78 cents a pound.
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