5:00AM Gold prices rose Wednesday but ended below $580 an ounce.
December gold rose by 30 cents to close at $576.50 an ounce on the NYME. Other metals followed gold lead higher on Nymex, with the exception of platinum, which January contract fell by $2.90 to close at $1,072.80 an ounce. December silver futures ended up 11 cents at $11.33 an ounce, December palladium added $7.35 to end at $308.95 an ounce and December copper put on 3.2 cents to close at $3.41 a pound.

The front-month November crude oil contract dropped 93 cents lower at $57.59 a barrel, after falling as low as $57.48, the lowest point in 2006. November heating oil settled down 0.89 cent to $1.6720 a gallon. November unleaded gasoline shed 1.65 cents to $1.4503 a gallon. October natural gas finished down 31.6 cents at $6.150 a million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, December Arabica coffee futures advanced 0.20 cent at $1.0305 a pound and March gained 0.20 cent to $1.07 a pound. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for March declined 0.52 cent at 11.09 cents a pound while May slipped 0.46 cent to 11.30 cents a pound.