COMMODITIES : Copper Futures Advance; Other Metals Slump
Copper futures prices extended recent gains as demand remained strong in commodities trading Thursday. Platinum joined gold and silver in a precious metals decline; cocoa futures continued plunging, and grain futures prices were mixed while soybeans were mostly higher.
Petroleum futures prices fell broadly, plunging sharply at times amid reports of overproduction by OPEC and renewed saber-rattling between member nations Iran and Iraq.
“Instead of fighting on the battlefield, they seem to want to fight in the press,” said Jim Ritterbusch, vice president of trading and research for Carson Petroleum Co. in suburban Chicago. “And all that posturing just makes people nervous.”
Prices for petroleum futures came under pressure at the opening and moved steadily lower as the market absorbed its first blow when a report pegged daily production by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries at between 19 million and 20 million barrels.
A second blow came later in the day as Iranian Oil Minister Khazempour Ardbelli was quoted as saying his nation would refuse any attempt to allot Iraq to the same 2.36-million barrel daily share of OPEC production granted Iran.
Iraq has been outside OPEC production quotas since 1986, when it claimed the economic drain of the Persian Gulf war with Iran necessitated the extra production. Iraq’s current output is estimated at 2.6 million barrels per day.
“Iran calls Iraq ‘obstructionist’ and it makes some people edgy,” Ritterbusch said.
Copper Futures Rise
Crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled 34 to 41 cents lower, with the contract for delivery in October at $15.31 per barrel; heating oil was 1.17 cents to 1.30 cents lower, with September at 42.45 cents a gallon, and unleaded gasoline was 1 cent to 1.10 cents lower, with September at 46.44 cents a gallon.
Copper futures, meanwhile, were 0.55 cent to 1.65 cents higher at the New York Commodity Exchange, with August at 10.235 cents a pound.
But the precious metals, which made some gains Wednesday, retrenched Thursday.
Platinum futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange slipped $3.50 to $6.20, with October at $547.70 an ounce. At the New York Commodity Exchange, gold dropped $2 to $2.20, with August at $432.80 an ounce; silver lost 7.4 cents to 7.7 cents, with August at $6.708 cents an ounce.
Cocoa futures took another beating as traders, already unnerved by the size of the worldwide surplus, left the market after rumors that the Ivory Coast, the world’s leading producer, was back selling after a long absence.
“People who held long positions just bailed out because they aren’t seeing any turnaround,” said Arthur Stevenson of Prudential-Bache Securities Inc. in New York. “The Ivory Coast rumors, if true, would be very, very negative.”
Cocoa futures settled $33 to $45 lower on the New York Coffee, Sugar & Cocoa Exchange, with September at $1,303 per ton.
Wheat Prices Climb
Grain futures prices were mixed while soybeans were mostly higher at the Chicago Board of Trade.
On the close, wheat was 2 cents to 4 cents higher, with the contract for delivery in September at $3.93 a bushel; corn was 4 cents lower to 2 3/4 cents higher, with September at $2.80 3/4 a bushel; oats were unchanged to 1 cent lower, with September at $2.54, and soybeans were 5 cents lower to 5 cents higher, with September at $8.35 1/2 a bushel.
Livestock and meat futures finished mixed to mostly higher at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Live cattle settled 0.02 cent lower 0.80 cent higher, with October at 72.10 cents a pound; feeder cattle were unchanged to 0.83 cent higher, with August at 81.80 cents a pound; live hogs were 0.10 cent lower to 0.62 cent higher, with October at 40.85 cents a pound, and frozen pork bellies were 0.60 cent to 1.20 cents higher, with February at 55.15 cents a pound.
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