Precious Metals
Gold and silver prices extended its weakness for the third consecutive day as fears of German ban on some bearish bets abated, with buying interest seen coming back in the European currency. Germany banned naked short selling, which involves selling financial instruments without first borrowing them or making sure they can be borrowed, for bank shares, government bonds and credit-default swaps.
Energy
Crude oil prices reversed its earlier losses later during Wednesday as Euro retrieved lost grounds against the US currency. Crude oil prices had slid initially during the day amidst European debt crisis; however, the market recouped enough strength to end the day with gains. Natural gas prices ended with losses on Wednesday, unlike crude oil prices, as concerns of European debt crisis seem to have infiltrated the recent sentiments, turning prices negative. Natural gas for June delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled 18.4 cents lower, or 4.24%, at $4.158 a million British thermal units.
Base Metals
Base metals have been consolidating near lows it hit during the beginning of the week and even managed to finish the session on Wednesday with gains. Even though the German ban on some bearish bets did pull prices down initially during the day, the recovery in Euro against the US dollar helped the metals out of weakness.
Falling inventories of the red metal at warehouses monitored by the London Metal Exchange also gave copper the impetus to rise. Inventories of copper monitored by the LME extended a decline this week to the lowest since Dec. 22, 2009.
