Gold and silver prices ended the day with moderate falls; Some consider it was related to the decision of the Swiss National Bank to set a minimum exchange rate of 1.20 per Euro; as a result, traders sold their gold positions to cover their Swiss loses. The encouraging PMI non-manufacturing report also helped the US dollar to appreciate against the Euro, resulting in gold and silver prices falling. Crude oil prices had a mixed trend with Brent oil sharply rising, while WTI oil price moderately slipped; natural gas spot price (Henry Hub) sharply dropped again. Here is a summary of the price movements of precious metals and energy commodities for September 6th:
Precious Metals prices:
Gold price slightly fell yesterday by 0.19% to $1,873; Silver price also decreased by 2.79% to $41.87. During September, gold prices increased by 2.3%, and silver price by 0.2%.
The EURO to US Dollar exchange rate decreased for the fifth straight business day; yesterday it sharply fell by 1.46% – i.e. the USD appreciated against the EURO. During September, the EURO to US Dollar declined by 2.58%.
Oil and Gas prices:
WTI Spot oil price declined by 0.50%; it settled at $86.02 per barrel; Brent spot price on the other hand fell by 3.27% to $113.63 per barrel; during September the WTI spot oil price declined by 3.1% and Brent oil by 1.4%.
Due to these changes, the difference between Brent and WTI rose to $27.61/bbl.
Natural gas Henry Hub future price (October delivery) slightly inclined by 1.81% to $3.94/mmbtu. The Henry Hub spot price sharply declined by 4.15% to $3.93/mmbtu; the gap between the spot and future price shrunk to $0.01, i.e. contango. During September, natural gas spot price (Henry Hub) fell by 1.8%.
A summary of yesterday’s Prices Changes:
The table below includes: closing prices, daily percent change, and change in prices and indexes in US dollars (except for USD/CAD, in which the change is in Canadian dollars):
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For further reading:
Monthly Analysis and Outlook:
- Gold and silver prices outlook for September 2011
- Oil prices Monthly outlook – September 2011
- Natural gas prices outlook for September 2011