Gold extends 5-day rally; WTI crude up 0.1% ahead of supply data

New York (Mar 24)  Gold futures scored a fifth straight session of gains today, with European jitters and worries about a potentially overheated equity market helping to lift prices to their highest level in nearly three weeks.

Gold for April delivery rose 0.3 percent to settle at $1,191.40 an ounce on Comex — the highest settlement for a most-active contract since March 5.

In other metals trading, May silver advanced 0.5 percent to $16.983 an ounce. April platinum shed 0.3 percent to $1,141.50 an ounce, while June palladium declined 0.9 percent to $763.70 an ounce.

May copper rose 0.5 percent to end at $2.803 a pound.

In energy trading, oil futures finished with a slight gain as traders awaited weekly reports on U.S. crude supplies.

West Texas Intermediate for May delivery settled at $47.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 0.1 percent.

The American Petroleum Institute will release its petroleum-supply report late today, while the Energy Information Administration's data will be out tomorrow morning.

Analysts polled by Platts expect the reports to show an increase of 4.6 million barrels in crude inventories for the week ended March 20.

Source: Standard&Poors