HML 15.75 - 16.25p +1p

moving higher and MMS short of stock after large buys earlier
paying premium for sales and large size, small size and full price for buying

online prices and size

Bid Price BPC 15.80
Maximum Size* 100,000


Offer Price BPC 16.25
Maximum Size* 7,500

Metals - Gold slumps to three month low close to $850/oz as dollar strengthens

London shares - midafternoon features

Precious Metals Summary - London PM Fixings

TFN economic and business calendar to Thursday May 15

Metals - Copper, base metals slide as stronger dollar knocks commodities lower

Metals - Gold slumps below $850/oz on dollar strength,

Crude Oil Falls More Than $2 as Dollar Climbs to Five-Week High
By Mark Shenk

May 1 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell more than $2 a barrel for a third day as the dollar rose to a five-week high against the euro, curbing the appeal of commodities to investors.

Energy and metals declined after the Federal Reserve signaled yesterday it may refrain from further interest-rate cuts after making a quarter-percentage reduction. Exxon Mobil Corp. will resume talks today to end a week-long strike in Nigeria that has cut crude-oil output by 860,000 barrels a day.

``An end to the rate cuts and the dollar's drop signals an end to the one-way trade in commodities,'' said John Kilduff, vice president of risk management at MF Global Ltd. in New York. ``There are also concerns about the economy and how that relates to fuel demand.''

Crude oil for June delivery fell $2.44, or 2.2 percent, to $111.02 a barrel at 10:41 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have dropped 6.5 percent over the past three days. Futures, which have gained 73 percent from a year ago, touched a record $119.93 a barrel on April 28.

Prices closed below the Bloomberg Trender support line yesterday for the first time since April 7, indicating oil may be poised for a sustained decline. The Trender is a technical study that signals a price's direction based on the speed and variance of past changes.

The dollar rose to $1.5453 against the euro at 10:45 a.m. in New York, from $1.5622 yesterday. It touched $1.5442, the strongest since March 25.

The drop in oil accelerated after an Energy Department report showed that U.S. supplies of natural gas, a competing fuel, rose more than forecast.

The Labor Department reported today that first-time claims for unemployment insurance rose more than forecast last week, to 380,000. U.S. consumer spending rose a greater-than-forecast 0.4 percent in March, following a 0.1 percent increase the prior month, the Commerce Department said in Washington.

Nigerian Strike

Exxon Mobil officials will meet with the Petroleum & Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, Olusola George- Olumoroti, a union official, said. The Pengassan union leader said that while there was an understanding yesterday that workers would return to work as a goodwill gesture to help negotiations, workers decided to continue their strike.

The walkout, combined with a week of militant attacks against oil pipelines operated by a Royal Dutch Shell Plc unit, has cut Nigerian output by about 50 percent, allowing Angola to overtake it as Africa's biggest oil producer. Nigeria is the fifth-biggest supplier of oil to the U.S.

Exxon Mobil today posted the smallest earnings increase among the world's three largest oil companies, falling short of analyst estimates as production dropped and profit margins from refining narrowed.

Brent crude oil for June settlement declined $2.11, or 1.9 percent, to $109.25 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract touched a record $117.56 on April 25.

IVE 3.875p +0.70p

finished at the best of the day with record trades 84M so far

End-of-day Market Roundup