Hypo Venture Capital Headlines : Commodities markets summary - The-looser-it-s-me

Hypo Venture Capital Headlines : Commodities markets summary - The-looser-it-s-me

A summary of trading in key commodities markets overseas:

ENERGY

World oil prices fell Friday as investors took profits from bumper gains made during a week that saw the promise of a comprehensive plan to rescue the eurozone.

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New York’s main oil contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, slipped 64 US cents to $US93.32 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for December lost $US2.17 to $US109.91.

The New York price was still well above the $US86.31 close of a week before, after encouraging news on growth in China and the United States, and Thursday’s EU pact, fed expectations of firm demand.

Brent though was only slightly higher than the previous Friday’s $US109.54 as the gap between the two benchmarks appeared to be narrowing.

Prices continued to benefit from the stronger euro, which rebounded sharply against the dollar this week with the news of the eurozone deal.

PRECIOUS METALS

Gold edged lower on profit taking a day after a deal to contain the euro zone debt crisis triggered a broad rise in equities and commodities, but gold posted its biggest weekly rise since January 2009.

Spot gold finished at $US1,743.10 per ounce, almost even with where it ended the previous session at $US1,743.95. It retreated from a one-month high of $US1,751.99 to spend most of the session modestly lower.

For the week, bullion climbed about 6.5 per cent, the biggest weekly gain since January 2009. according to Reuters graphics.

US December gold futures lost around 50 US cents, or 0.3 per cent, to end at $US1,747.20, but recorded its sharpest weekly gain in six weeks.

Holdings of the largest gold-backed exchange-traded-fund (ETF), New York’s SPDR Gold Trust fell 0.05 per cent from Wednesday to Thursday, while that of the largest silver-backed ETF, New York’s iShares Silver Trust SLV, remained unchanged for the same period.

Spot silver moved up to $US35.29 an ounce in late trade from $US35.05 an ounce on Thursday. It posted its biggestweekly rise of around 13 per cent in more than three years.