|
Gold higher oil prices rise Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2004/03/30/rtr1317492.htmlhttp://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2004/03/30/rtr1317492.html
Commodities - Oil prices rise as supply cuts loom, gold higher
Reuters, 03.30.04, 5:25 PM ET
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Crude oil prices firmed to close above $36 a barrel on Tuesday on signals that OPEC would go ahead with planned April supply cuts.
In other commodity markets, gold moved higher as the U.S. dollar faltered, while grain prices firmed ahead of a key U.S. government plantings report.
At the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil futures ended higher on market expectations that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would carry out a plan to cut supplies by 1.0 million barrels per day, despite some dissent among cartel members.
NYMEX May crude settled 80 cents higher at $36.25 a barrel.
"The market consensus seems to be that OPEC will rubber-stamp the adjustments on output here, but the market believes that more barrels will continue to flow," said Rick Smid, senior vice president of derivatives at Prudential Financial.
Ahead of a meeting Wednesday at OPEC headquarters in Vienna, Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi made a strong case for the cut, which was planned at a Feb. 10 meeting in Algiers.
But Saudi Arabia faced rare opposition from Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, which came out in favor of postponing cuts, in line with U.S. calls for more oil production.
United Arab Emirates Oil Minister Obaid bin Saif al-Nasseri confirmed that a delay was one option among several to be considered.
The White House said on Tuesday it was talking with OPEC members about letting the market determine oil prices.
Also on Tuesday, a group of U.S. senators asked President George W. Bush to put pressure on OPEC to raise production to restrain rising gasoline prices.
NYMEX April gasoline futures settled 3.78 cents higher at $1.1562 a gallon, nearing the 13-month peak of $1.1630 established on March 17.
NYMEX April heating oil settled 2.24 cents higher at 90.71 cents a gallon.
At the COMEX in New York, gold prices firmed as a weak dollar and heightened geopolitical tensions drove up demand for hard assets.
News of British police arresting eight men and seizing a cache of explosives in an anti-terror sweep sparked new buying in gold, while speculative selling that had pressured gold on Monday disappeared.
"Those who were shorting gold yesterday gave up quickly, given that funds were still defending their huge (long) positions," Refco analyst Tom Boustead said. "Add into that the terrorist threat in the U.K. and that helped trigger some short covering on the COMEX to give it some lift."
June gold settled $4.60 higher at $422.80 an ounce, although values could not top Friday's 10-week high at $425.
Gold benefited as the dollar sank on a report showing a decline in U.S. consumer confidence, with rising oil prices also pulling some investors into precious metals, traders said.
Silver prices got a jolt from galloping gold, with May futures up 15.0 cents to $7.775 an ounce.
At the Chicago Board of Trade, corn prices closed higher ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's annual prospective plantings and quarterly grain stocks reports.
CBOT May corn futures closed 7-1/4 cents higher at $3.12-1/4 per bushel. CBOT May wheat closed 9-1/2 cents higher at $4.15-1/4.
Analysts surveyed by Reuters estimated this year's corn sowings at 80.290 million acres, above last year's 78.736 million. But one analyst noted a tendency for USDA's March corn planting intentions figure to lag trade forecasts.
"For seven of the past 10 years, USDA's (corn) number turned out to be lower than the trade estimates," said Dale Gustafson, analyst at Citigroup.
CBOT soybean futures closed mixed, with May up 3-1/4 at $10.16-1/4 a bushel. Nearby CBOT soybeans firmed on estimates USDA would report U.S. March 1 soybean supplies at a 20-year low. But new-crop CBOT soybeans ended lower on forecasts for record U.S. soy plantings this spring.
Copyright 2004, Reuters News Service
|
|
