Oil prices continued to decline on Thursday after U.S. crude oil inventories showed a large increase.
According to the Department of Energy, the increase is different from previous analysts ’projections that expected declining U.S. oil inventories.
As the world's largest consumer of oil, an increase in US oil inventories will drive a decline in global oil demand as well as affect oil prices in the market.
The situation is also seen to spark concerns after producer countries (OEPCs) had previously agreed to slow down production cuts which would boost crude oil supplies.
Oil inventories fell 3.5 million barrels last week to nearly 502 million barrels, while petrol stocks rose to 4 million barrels compared to expectations of a decline, to 230 million barrels.
Gold, on the other hand, was stable hovering around the $ 1,745.00 level which has been the price resistance level for several weeks.
After the horizontal movement of the gold price on Wednesday, the market again saw a rebound to the level of $ 1,745.00 until today’s European session.
The current movement of gold was influenced by the trading of the US dollar where the US currency strengthened slightly during the New York session after investors reacted positively to the minutes of the FOMC meeting.
The Federal Reserve (Fed) remains committed to maintaining a monetary policy that supports the recovery of the US economy, which will boost investor confidence in the strengthening US dollar.
But the strengthening of the US dollar will push the price of gold back to a lower decline in the market.
