LONDON (ShareCast) - Oil futures ended the day lower on Thursday, dragged down by a speech from Federal Reserve President Ben Bernanke before Congress’s joint economic committee.

Bernanke indicated that “the situation in Europe poses significant risks to the US financial system and economy and must be monitored closely.”

The July crude futures contract settled 0.24% lower at $84.82 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Oil prices are generally down on concerns that current demand is outweighed by a plentiful supply of oil.

There were losses across the board, with heating oil down 0.17% to $2.67 and unleaded gas down 0.2% to $2.68, both also on the July contracts.

Natural gas futures extended declines following the release of US data which revealed a larger-than-expected rise in supplies of gas storage available last week. The July contract fell 6.07% to $2.27 per British thermal unit.

In metals it was a similar story, with declines of 2.83% seen on the gold contract, with the price falling to $1,588 per troy ounce.

Silver dropped 3.25% to $28.53, platinum fell 1.92% to $1,445.70 and copper lost 0.25% to $3.37.

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