U.S. oil futures marked a loss for the sixth session in a row on Tuesday, holding ground at a six-year low as traders bet that coming reports will show another weekly increase in crude-oil supplies.
Crude oil for delivery in April CLJ5, -1.63% lost 42 cents, or 1%, to settle at $43.46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange — off the day’s intraday low of $42.63. Prices again settled at their lowest level since March 11, 2009 and they’ve tallied a six-session loss of more than 13%.
May Brent crude LCOK5, -0.15% lost 43 cents, down 0.8%, to end at $53.51 on London’s ICE Futures exchange.
In other metals actio Tuesday, May copper HGK5, -0.27% fell 3.5 cents, or 1.3%, to $2.633 a pound, while April platinum PLJ5, +0.18% fell $14.20, or 1.3%, to $1,093.70 an ounce and June palladium PAM5, +0.16% skidded $17.95, or 2.3%, to $762.15 an ounce.
Gold futures settled on Tuesday at their lowest level since early November, as investors awaited the outcome of the two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting for cues on the metal’s next direction.
The FOMC meeting concludes Wednesday with a policy statement and news conference.
Gold for April delivery GCJ5, +0.16% declined by $5, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,148.20 an ounce on Comex after settling higher for a third straight session on Monday. That was the lowest settlement for a most-active contract since Nov. 6.
Silver for the same month SIK5, -0.24% shed 3.9 cents, or 0.3%, to $15.578 an ounce.