Gold and silver prices rallied from the sharp falls they had recorded during most of the week and rose on the last business day of 2011. Crude oil prices on the other hand changed direction and declined. Major currencies such as AUD slightly appreciated against the U.S dollar, while the Euro remained nearly unchanged against the U.S. dollar. Here is a summary of the price developments of precious metals and energy commodities for December 30th the last trading day of 2011:
Precious Metals Prices:
Gold price bounced back on Friday and rose by 1.68% to $1,566.80; Silver price also increased by 2.20% to reach $27.92. During December, gold price declined by 10.5%, and silver price by 14.90%.
The Euro/USD remained unchanged on the last trading day of 2011 at 1.2961, while the U.S Dollar depreciated against other currencies such as the Canadian dollar.
Oil and Gas Prices:
WTI oil price changed direction again and fell yesterday by 0.82% to $98.83 per barrel; Brent oil price also decreased by 0.69% to $107.58 per barrel;
Due to these changes, the gap between Brent oil price and WTI oil prices slightly rose to $8.75/bbl. During the month, WTI oil price declined by 1.5%, and Brent oil price by 3.4%.
Natural gas Henry Hub future price (January delivery) fell by 1.32% to $2.99 /mmbtu. The Henry Hub spot price remained unchanged at $2.98 /mmbtu; the difference between the spot and future price declined to $0.01, i.e. Contango.
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):
For further reading:
Weekly Analysis and Outlook: