BLBG:Gold, Corn Advance While Copper Declines: Commodities at Close
The Standard & Poor’s GSCI gauge of 24 commodities fell 0.2 percent to 708.96 at 4:19 p.m. Singapore time. The UBS Bloomberg CMCI index of 26 raw materials dropped 0.2 percent to 1,639.90.
CRUDE OIL
Oil traded near the highest price in a week in New York as investors bet that a U.S. economic recovery and Saudi Arabian crude output near the strongest level since at least 1980 signal fuel demand is increasing.
Oil for April delivery was at $107.01 a barrel, down 5 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 3:35 p.m. Singapore time. The contract, which expires tomorrow, climbed 1.9 percent to $107.06 on March 16, the highest close since March 9. The more actively traded May future dropped 6 cents to $107.52 today. Prices are up 8.3 percent this year.
NATURAL GAS
OIL PRODUCTS
Singapore gasoil’s premium to Dubai crude shrank $1.06, or 6.5 percent, to $15.25 a barrel at 2:18 p.m. Singapore time, according to data from PVM Oil Associates Ltd., a broker. The spread is at the narrowest since March 13.
Singapore fuel oil’s discount to Dubai crude, a measure of refining losses from the fuel in Asia, widened to $6.58 a barrel from $5.61 on March 16, PVM data showed.
PRECIOUS METALS
Spot gold rose as much as 0.3 percent to $1,665.18 an ounce, and was at $1,663.11 at 3:03 p.m. in Singapore. The metal fell 3.1 percent last week, touching $1,634.53 on March 14, the lowest price since Jan. 16. Holdings in exchange-traded products, which hit a record 2,410.186 metric tons on March 13, stood at 2,410.166 tons March 16, according to data tracked by Bloomberg.
BASE METALS
Copper delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange declined as much as 0.3 percent to $8,482 a metric ton and traded at $8,509.75 by 3:27 p.m. Shanghai time. The June- delivery contract closed 0.8 percent lower at 60,300 yuan ($9,538) a ton on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.
GRAINS, SOFT COMMODITIES
Corn for May delivery climbed as much as 0.4 percent to $6.7575 a bushel, the highest price for the most-active contract on the Chicago Board of Trade since Sept. 22. Futures traded at $6.74 at 2:57 p.m. Singapore time. September-delivery corn in Dalian gained as much as 0.3 percent to 2,495 yuan ($395) a metric ton, after reaching a record 2,497 yuan on March 16.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mike Anderson in Singapore at manderson34@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net
