Oil rises on upbeat data as gold loses shine on Ukraine

London (Mar 30)  Oil--New York crude began the week on the front foot, rising on Monday as traffic was halted on the Houston Ship Channel, a key petroleum-industry waterway, due to an oil spill. Prices then jumped further as data showed a fall in crude supplies at a key US trading hub and a surprisingly large decline in gasoline stocks. The US Energy Information Administration revealed on Wednesday that stockpiles sank by 1.3 million barrels at the Cushing, Oklahoma oil-trading hub for the US benchmark. That was the eighth straight weekly decline and leaves Cushing stockpiles at their lowest level since January 2012. The market also pushed higher on concerns over supply disruption in oil producers Libya and Nigeria, analysts said. By Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in May rose to $108.04 a barrel from $107.51. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate or light sweet crude for May climbed to $101.67 per barrel from $100.13 a week earlier for the April contract.

Precious metals

Gold sank as investors took profits amid fading geopolitical concerns in Ukraine. “The market shed over three per cent in the past week amid ongoing speculative profit-taking and easing risk aversion on global markets,” VTB Capital analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov told AFP. He added: “Overall, the de-escalation of geopolitical tensions after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula triggered large-scale investor profit-taking.” The glamourous metal touched the lowest point for one-and-a-half months at $1,285.82 per ounce on Friday. Gold had struck a six-month high at $1,392.22 per ounce the previous week, as investors sought a haven investment to shelter from Ukraine tensions. By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, the price of gold slid to $1,294.75 an ounce from $1,336 a week earlier. Silver dipped to $19.71 an ounce from $20.55. On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum reversed to $1,401 an ounce from $1,439. Palladium receded to $771 an ounce from $789.

Source: khaleeTimes