Zinc hits another new high; crude up on reduced inventories

Silver reached yet another new price level on Wednesday on continued positive sentiment after the US Securities and Exchange Commission approved the first exchange traded fund backed by the metal. The new fund will trade on the American Stock Exchange. Silver prices peaked at $10.59 per troy ounce during the day, but later slid back to $10.52/$10.55 late in the day in London.

Gold, however, was down on the day, losing over $1 to trade at $550.40/$551.30 per troy ounce.

In base metals, zinc found a new high price for the third time in four trading sessions, while copper held steady at $5,105 in late trade in London and aluminium was down on the day, losing $20 to $2,470 per tonne. Three-month zinc peaked at $2,530 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange before easing back to $2,517 in London late in the afternoon.

Crude oil prices, meanwhile, were up during the day after the weekly report on US inventories from the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration showed that crude stockpiles were down 1.3 million barrels in the week ending March 17, to 338.6 million barrels. Analysts had forecast an increase of 2.5 million barrels on the week. Despite the drop, US inventories are still around their highest level in three years.

May delivery Brent crude on the International Petroleum Exchange in London was up 44 cents to $62.57 pr barrel in late afternoon, while West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery had gained 31 cents by early afternoon on the New York Mercantile Exchange to trade at $62.65 per barrel.

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