Commodities: Goldman Sachs lowers forecast for oil prices

Front month West Texas crude futures ended the day 27 cents lower at $81 per barrel on the NYMEX.

On Friday Goldman Sachs slashed its forecast for the price of oil next year.

The broker now sees front month West Texas crude futures falling to $75 per barrel in the first quarter of 2015 and remaining at that level throughout the second half of the year. Previously the bank’s analysts had been expecting it to be at $90 per barrel in the second half of 2015.

Reports were also seen regarding a possible increase in oil supplies through a pipeline in Kurdistan. In parallel, Iranian officials were cited as having said that a production cut by OPEC, when it next meets, in November, is unlikely.

Three-month copper futures finished higher by 0.6% to $6,730 per metric tonne on the back of reports of a possible one-month strike by workers at Indonesia’s Grasberg mine.

Gold futures for December delivery closed down by $1.5 dollar sat $1,356.5 per ounce in COMEX trading.

The December contract for wheat gained 0.5% to $5.2525 per bushel in trading on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBoT), as markets continued to be dogged regarding the next harvests in Australia and Russia due to extreme weather conditions.

Corn futures advanced 0.4% to $3.645 per bushel.