Commodities: Oil settles above $77

Date: Thursday 18 Feb 2010

Oil advanced on Wednesday, rising above $77 a barrel, after positive economic data.

Oil for March delivery closed up 32 cents at $77.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Stronger than expected US housing data and industrial output data soothed concern about the economic recovery while the Federal Reserve announced it wants to start selling securities.

The Fed also said the US economic recovery is continuing. However demand for oil was restrained amid the stronger dollar and continued pressure on the euro. Upcoming supply data also set a cautious tone.

The Energy Information Administration releases its weekly supply data on Thursday, a day late due to Monday’s holiday. Crude inventories are expected to have risen by 2.2m barrels in the week ended 12 February.

Gold for April delivery rose 30 cents to settle at $1,120.10 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

News that George Soros doubled his investment in gold towards the end of 2009 helped the yellow metal bag gains for the second consecutive session.

Meanwhile the World Gold Council confirmed that gold demand improved in the last quarter of 2009 and is expected to remain robust during 2010.

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