Most metals prices fall

Crude oil prices dropped on Monday after it was reveled that Saudi Arabia has decided that it will sell more oil to some of its Asian customers in December. While it seemed that this move was in opposition to its agreement to cut oil output with other OPEC members, some analysts said it was too soon to tell whether it was really violating the production decision or would take all of its cuts from sales to the United States and Europe.

Brent crude for December delivery dropped 75 cents to $58.96 per barrel in London, while West Texas Intermediate crude December contracts were 98 cents lower to $58.61 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In the metals markets on Monday, prices were down almost universally. The exceptions were in aluminium and nickel prices. Aluminium was 0.7 percent higher to $2,714 per tonne, while nickel added 1 percent to $29,700 per tonne.

Copper led the declines among base metals. It ended the session at $6,917 per tonne after going as low as $6,761 per tonne earlier in the day. Prices for the metal has dropped nearly 11 percent since the middle of October as inventories in London Metal Exchange warehouses have added 3,100 tonnes - 38 percent - to 151,300 tonnes. Elsewhere in base metals, zinc dropped 1.5 percent to $4,235 per tonne after dropping as low as $4,020 per tonne, while lead declined 5.7 percent to $1,580, $130 higher than its lowest point on the session.

In precious metals, gold dropped 0.9 percent to $622.80 per troy ounce as the dollar firmed and oil prices fell, while platinum fell 1 percent to $1,194 per troy ounce.

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