Oil futures fell markedly, continuing yesterday's trend and updating the 3-week low. The pressure on prices put concerns about over-saturation of the market, which intensified after the publication of the US petroleum inventories report.

Recall, the US Department of Energy reported that in the week from August 19 to 26 commercial oil stocks rose 2.28 million barrels to 525.87 million. Analysts were expecting growth of only 1.31 million barrels. Gasoline inventories fell last week by 691 thousand. barrels to 232.004 million barrels. Experts predicted a decline of 1 million barrels. Distillate stocks rose by 1.496 million barrels to 154.753 million barrels. Analysts expected an increase of 300,000 barrels. The utilization of refining capacity increased by 0.3% to 92.8%. Analysts had expected a decline of 0.4%. US domestic oil production dropped to 8.488 million. barrels per day versus 8.548 million. barrels per day from the previous week.

"Recent data in the US oil reserves suggest that excess supply will remain longer than expected," - said Hans van Cleef, an economist at ABN AMRO Bank N.V. - In addition, the possible strengthening of the dollar, if the Fed will raise rates will negatively affect the price of oil. Also the uncertainty regarding the OPEC meeting, the results of which will be shown later this month.

The cost of the October futures for US light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) fell to 43.67 dollars per barrel.

October futures price for North Sea petroleum mix of mark Brent fell to 45.79 dollars a barrel on the London Stock Exchange ICE Futures Europe.

The price of gold rose sharply, stepping back from the two-month low, move caused by the fall of the dollar in response to the disappointing data on business activity in the US.

The report submitted by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), showed that in August manufacturing sector has deteriorated markedly, exceeding thus the average forecast. The PMI was 49.4 points versus 52.6 points in July. It was expected that this figure will drop to 52 points. More detailed information is shown: the index of stocks in August fell to 49.0 against 49.5 in July, while the production index fell to 49.6 from 55.4. The new orders index plummeted to 49.1 against 56.9 in July, while the employment index fell to 48.3 from 49.4. Meanwhile, the price index fell to 53.0 from 55.0 in July

Analysts said the data from the ISM reinforced fears about the economy in general, but it is unlikely to have a strong impact on the Fed's plans to tighten policy.

"If tomorrow's NFP data will be good, the price of gold may fall to $ 1260- $ 1270, as markets will increasingly rely on a rate hike in September," - said Shu Jiang, principal analyst at Shandong Gold Group.

The cost of the October futures for gold on COMEX rose to $ 1312.8 per ounce.

This morning, New York crude oil futures for WTI rose by 0.67% to $ 45.00 and crude oil futures for Brent rose by 0.58% to $ 47.16 per barrel. Thus, the black gold is trading higher on the background of data on the growth in US energy stockpiles. US crude stocks rose last week by 2.3 million barrels, the US Department of Energy data show. Although analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal, predicted an increase of 1.2 million barrels. "

Gasoline inventories fell by 700 thousand barrels, vs a more significant decline expected. US domestic oil production fell for the week by 60 thousand barrels - to 8.48 million barrels per day.

The US continues to import oil that support the growth of reserves.

(raw materials / closing price /% change)

Oil 44.86 +0.36%

Gold 1,311.80 +0.03%