Petroleum - Crude prices held weaker in Asia on Wednesday after industry
estimates of U.S. crude inventories showed a
less-than-expected dip, raising renewed concerns over buling shale oil output.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for May
delivery fell 0.19% to $52.31 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental
Exchange, Brent eased 0.20% to $54.78 a
barrel.
The largest refiner on the U.S. East Coast Philadelphia
Energy Solutions Inc, , will not be taking any rail deliveries of North
Dakota's Bakken crude oil in June, a source familiar with delivery schedules
said on Tuesday - a sign that the impending start of the Dakota Access Pipeline
is upending trade flows.
Precious Metal - Gold prices eased in Asia on Wednesday in a bout of mild
profit-taking as geopolitical tensions on the Korean peninsula appear off the
boil for now, though investors stayed cautious with elections ahead in Europe
and with an eye on U.S. monetary policy.
Gold for June delivery
on the Comex division of the New York
Mercantile Exchange dipped 0.28% to $1,290.50 a troy ounce. Silver
futures traded at $18.290 a troy ounce, upward
0.10%, while copper gained 0.12% to $2.533 a
pound.
Oil prices dipped on Wednesday as bloated U.S. supplies weighed on markets while
a fall in Saudi crude exports was offset by rising production in the country.
Brent crude futures, the
international benchmark for oil, were at $54.77 per barrel at 0354 GMT, downward
12 cents from their previous close.
U.S. West Texas
Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were downward 9 cents at $52.32 a barrel.
Natural Gas - U.S. natural gas futures were high on Tuesday, bouncing off the
lowest level in three weeks as traders monitored shifting weather forecasts to
assess the outlook for early-spring demand and supply levels.
U.S. natural gas for May delivery tacked on 1.5 cents, or around 0.5%, to $3.178
per million British thermal units. It fell to $3.114 earlier, the cheapest
since March 29.
Prices of the
heating fuel slumped 6.4 cents on Monday.
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