Oil pared declines in New York after an Obama administration official said a report that the U.S. and the U.K. agreed to cooperate in an agreement to release oil from strategic reserves wasn’t accurate.

Futures rebounded from a 1.6 percent drop after an Obama administration official said there has been no agreement on a release of oil. The official spoke on condition of anonymity. Reuters reported earlier that the two nations would cooperate in an effort to cut rising gasoline prices.

Crude oil for April delivery dropped 37 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $105.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price dropped to $103.78 after the report.

Brent crude for April fell $1.47, or 1.2 percent, to $123.50 a barrel. The price ranged from $120.97 to $125.35.

The price of gold at auction on Thursday adjusted upwards after a significant drop the previous day, accompanied by decreasing investor confidence in the Fed's intention to hold a third round of the U.S. stimulate the national economy.

Investors' confidence in the new round of quantitative easing policy (QE3) in the U.S. fell after the publication on Tuesday of the next decision on monetary policy committee of the Federal Open Market U.S. Federal Reserve.

The regulator upheld the base interest rate - at a record low in 0,0-0,25% - and kept the volume of assets being bought from the market as part of Operation Twist at $ 400 billion. At the same time, in its statement the Fed said that the outlook for the U.S. economy improves - so, automatically reduces the need to launch a new program of QE.

Reducing the likelihood of another round of stimulus, and also reduces the risk of inflation - as the QE program conducted by the printing press - which adversely affects the dynamics of gold as a safe haven asset.

April futures price of gold on COMEX today rose to $ 1651.9 an ounce.

(commodities/close/change, %)

Oil $105.65 +0.22 +0.21%

Gold $1,644.00 +1.10 +0.07%