Major commodities prices changed direction and slipped during yesterday’s trading. Gold and silver were traded down; crude oil prices also declined despite the recent news of EU’s sanctions on Iran to boycott its oil; natural gas price continued its rally and sharply increased yesterday. The Euro and other exchange rates such as Canadian dollar slightly appreciated against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday. Here is a summary of the price developments of precious metals and energy commodities for January 24th, 2012:
Precious Metals Prices:
Gold price decreased on Tuesday by 0.82% to $1,664.5; Silver price also fell by 0.91% to reach $31.98. During January, gold increased by 6.2%, and silver by 14.54%.
The Euro/USD moderately increased by 0.17% to 1.3036; the U.S Dollar also depreciated against other currencies such as the Canadian dollar.
Oil and Gas Prices:
WTI shed 0.67% off its value to $98.75 per barrel; Brent fell 0.58% to $109.71 per barrel;
Due to these changes, the difference between Brent and WTI oil prices rose to $10.96/bbl. During January, WTI oil price fell by 0.1%, but Brent rose by 2.0%.
The Henry Hub future price (February delivery) rose by 0.79% to $2.55/mmbtu. The Henry Hub spot sharply increased to $2.63/mmbtu; the difference between the spot and future price fell to -$0.08, i.e. backwardation.
A Summary of Yesterday’s Prices Changes:
The table below includes: closing prices, daily percent change, and change in prices and indexes in USD (except for USD/CAD, in which the change is in Canadian dollar):
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