Commodities: Oil dips below $79, copper rises

Date: Tuesday 02 Mar 2010

Oil fell below $79 a barrel on Monday as the dollar turned higher against the euro and as profit takers moved in.

Oil rose at the start of the session, in a bullish start to the week, amid gains on Wall Street and upbeat economic data on manufacturing and consumer spending. However the rally was short lived and crude for April delivery fell 96 cents to settle at $78.70 a barrel.

The dollar gained against the euro as the possibility of a bailout for Greece lingers. Uncertainty remains however after German Chancellor Angela Merkel's comments at the weekend that Greece would have to deal with its debt problems on its own.

Chile’s earthquake failed to lift the price of gold but sent copper futures sharply higher. Gold for April delivery slipped 60 cents to settle at $1,118.30 an ounce as the dollar gained against the euro.

Copper for May surged over 6% to $3.487 a pound early Monday, before settling at $3.34 a pound. Copper lost bigger gains after reports suggested the actual impact on Chile’s copper mining sector was probably quite small.

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