Crude-oil futures on Wednesday put an end to a three-session winning streak on Nymex that lifted prices by more than 9% as investors turned their focus back to rising U.S. inventories.
Prices continued to decline in the wake of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s January policy meeting that showed central bank officials weren’t in any rush to raise interest rates.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, March crude CLH5, -2.88% settled at $52.14 a barrel, down $1.39, or 2.6%.
Brent crude LCOJ5, -1.67% for April delivery fell $2, or 3.2%, to $60.53 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange.
Rounding out action on Comex during the regular trading session, March silver SIH5, +2.00% was settled at $16.265 an ounce, down 11 cents, or 0.7% and March copper HGH5, -0.10% tacked on 33 cents, or 1.3%, to $2.615 a pound.
April platinum PLJ5, +1.23% fell $9.80, or 0.8%, to end at $1,167.20 an ounce and March palladium PAH5, +0.41% gave back $6.65, or 0.9%, to $776.60 an ounce.
Tokyo (Nikkei Average NIK, +0.41% ) up 0.5%
Hong Kong (Hang Seng Index HSI, +0.19% ) closed for holiday
Shanghai (Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP, +0.76% ) closed for holiday
Sydney (S&P/ASX 200 XJO, -0.21% ) down 0.2%
Seoul (Kospi SEU, +0.16% ) closed for holiday
Mumbai (Sensex 1, +0.38% ) up 0.5%
Taipei (Taiex Y9999, +0.35% ) closed for holiday
