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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stephen O who wrote (13589)	6/20/1998 6:03:00 PM
From: Giraffe	Respond to of 116796

From the Financial Times: Oil price struggles By Gary Mead Brent crude oil struggled to climb above $13 a barrel yesterday on the International Petroleum Exchange amid thin volumes and gloomy sentiment in the build-up to next week's meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna. More analysts yesterday joined the calls for Opec to agree and abide by significant production cuts - 2m b/d being a target for many - as the only possible way of forcing prices back towards the average for 1997 of $19.30 a barrel. The degree of pain being experienced by producer nations because of the price slump was testified to by Venezuela, which yesterday revealed a 44 per cent drop in its basket of crude and refined oil products, from $15.28 in June last year to today's $8.55. By the market's close August-dated Brent crude was up 7 cents at $12.85 a barrel, but market sentiment was weak and a slide is expected week. Gold improved significantly in the afternoon "fix" in London, which put bullion at $297.75 a troy ounce, $4.35 better than the morning "fix". Dealers said the rise was prompted by speculators covering short positions and some analysts felt the $300 mark might be tested next week, depending on the strength of the yen and global macro-economic sentiment. Other markets were the focus of less attention, with base metal trading looking for strong direction on the London Metal Exchange. Three-months copper finished the week at $1,688 a tonne, just $6 lower than at the end of the previous week, but $18 higher than Thursday's closing price. Tin was again weak, closing $65 a tonne lower at $5,655. In soft commodities on the London International Financial Futures Exchange an indifferent week's trading in cocoa and coffee ended very much as it began, with a lack of direction to the market and narrow trading ranges, underpinned by poor volumes. Coffee traders are awaiting indications of any frost in Brazil, but weather forecasts for the region are balmy. September coffee ended at $1,643 a tonne, $17 down, while September cocoa slumped to œ1,075, œ15 down.