Major commodities were traded with mixed trend during the first day of the month: crude oil price (WTI) rose while Brent oil decreased again on Wednesday; gold and silver prices continued to decline; natural gas Henry Hub (August delivery) and spot price also fell. The Euro changed direction again and declined after it had increased on Tuesday. Several exchange rates including the Aussie dollar also decreased against USD.
Here is a summary of the daily changes in precious metals and energy commodities for August 1st, 2012:
Forex and Bullion Markets:
Gold declined by 0.45% to $1,607.3; Silver also fell by 1.36% and reached $27.54. During the week, gold decreased by 0.9% while silver rose by 0.1%.
The Euro/USD also fell by 0.64% to 1.222; further, the U.S Dollar also depreciated against many other currencies such as Aussie dollar by 0.4%.
Energy Commodities:
WTI oil price rose yesterday by 0.97% to $88.91 per barrel;
Brent oil declined by 0.09% to $105.83 per barrel;
Following these changes, the difference between Brent and WTI fell to $16.92/bbl. During the week, WTI decreased by 1.4% and Brent oil by 1.9%.
Finally, the Henry Hub future (August delivery) fell by 1.25% to $3.17/mmbtu; the Henry Hub spot slipped to $3.2/mmbtu; the difference between the spot and future fell to -$0.03, backwardation.
A Summary for August 1st:
The table below includes: closing prices, daily percent changes, and daily changes:
For further reading: