Precious metals prices up as base metals decline

Precious metals prices were mostly higher on Monday.

February gold was slightly higher, adding $1 to $799 per troy ounce after the dollar strengthened in relation to the euro.

January platinum added $24.40 to $1,503.60 per troy ounce on demand speculation after hitting a record high of $1,504 per troy ounce earlier in the session while earlier in the session March palladium was $4.60 higher to $362 per troy ounce.

Interest in both platinum and palladium, which are used in the manufacture of pollution-control devices for motor vehicles, was said to be up on increased interest generated by a UN environmental meeting in Bali.

March silver, however, traded even at $13.98 per troy ounce.

Prices for copper and most other base metals declined on Monday on concerns surrounding demand as worries accelerated about the slowing of the global economy.

March Copper dropped 7 cents to $2.89 per pound in New York while three-month copper in London fell $170 to $6,375 per tonne after going as low as $6,357 per tonne earlier in the session, its lowest level there since mid-March.

Aluminium dropped $5 to $2,410 per tonne and was down to $2,393 per tonne earlier in the day while zinc dropped $28 to $2,297 per tonne, lead was down $50 to $2,430 per tonne, tin was $150 lower to $16,050 per tonne, and nickel fell $800 to $25,700 per tonne.

Crude oil prices fell Monday after Algeria’s oil minister said that OPEC could increase production if the market dictates that more oil is needed.

Prices were down even though geopolitical tensions inched upward again both along the Turkey/Iraq border and in Nigeria

West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery fell 64 cents to $90.63 per barrel by the close of trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while January contracts for Brent crude were down $1.10 to $90.59 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex January gasoline prices fell 1 cent to $2.34 per gallon while January heating oil also was down a cent to $2.60 per gallon but March natural gas added 4 cents to $7.21 per million British thermal units.

Wheat prices hit a new high on the Chicago Board of Trade before falling back as worries were raised that global demand could cause a shortage of grains in the United States in 2008, sending food price inflation, up 4.1 percent in the September through November quarter, up even further..

CBOT March wheat closed 13.5 cents lower at $9.66 per bushel, but not before rising to $10.095 per bushel, the highest wheat prices have ever been.

January CBOT soybeans were also lower, dropping a quarter of a cent to $11.5675 per bushel, but March corn added half a cent to $4.3875 per bushel.