Oil surged almost $3 a barrel after Reuters reported Iranian oil exports will drop by 300,000 barrels a day this month because of tighter sanctions.

Futures jumped more than 2 percent in three minutes on the New York Mercantile Exchange, topping $108 a barrel for the first time in four days.

Oil has risen this year as Western countries imposed sanctions on Iran’s petroleum exports aimed at halting its nuclear program. Iran threatened to shut the Strait of Hormuz, a transit route for a fifth of the world’s oil, in retaliation.

Futures fell earlier this week as Saudi Arabia said it could boost output immediately to make up for any supply shortfall.

Crude oil for May delivery rose to $108.25 a barrel. Prices have risen 3 cents this week and are up 8.4 percent this year.

Brent oil for May settlement gained $2.19, or 1.8 percent, to $125.33 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.

Gold prices rise in support of the euro, but will decline following the fourth consecutive week because of the reduction in investment and consumer demand.

For the week prices may fall by 0.6 percent, and the March gold cheaper by almost 3percent, as investors, encouraged by statistics from the U.S., interested in more risk assets - equities and high-yielding currencies.

Markets rely less on the new stage of quantitative easing in the U.S., which became one of the reasons for the decline in gold prices this month.

The outflow of gold from the funds of ETF on Thursday amounted to nearly a quarter of a million ounces, after which the stock funds fell to month low 70.431 million ounces.

April futures price of gold on COMEX today rose to $ 1666.3 an ounce.

Change % Change Last

Oil $105.52 +0.17 +0.16%

Gold $1,642.30 -0.20 -0.01%