(raw materials / closing price /% change)

Light Crude 96.84 -0.08%

Gold 1,306.90 -0.10%

West Texas Intermediate crude rose from a six-month low after an Energy Information Administration report showed declines in U.S. inventories of crude oil, gasoline and distillates.

The EIA said crude supplies decreased 1.76 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 1. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected a drop of 1.55 million. Gasoline inventories fell 4.39 million barrels to 213.8 million and distillates dropped 1.8 million to 124.9 million. Stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI futures, rose 83,000 barrels to 18 million.

"The market is trying to stabilize after reaching a multimonth low," said Gene McGillian, an analyst and broker at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. "The selling pressure has run its course."

WTI for September delivery gained 68 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $98.06 a barrel at 10:35 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped to $97.38 yesterday, the lowest close since Feb. 5. The volume of all futures traded was about 32 percent below the 100-day average for the time of day.

Brent for September settlement rose 78 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $105.39 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It closed at $104.61 a barrel yesterday, the lowest since Nov. 7. The European benchmark crude was at a premium of $7.33 to WTI on the ICE. It closed at $7.23 yesterday.

Gold prices rose sharply to one-week high after reports that numerous Russian troops near the border focus Ukraine.

Gold's appeal as a safe-haven increased after NATO said on Wednesday that Russia has about 20,000 troops on the eastern border of Ukraine and can be used for the invasion as a pretext humanitarian mission or peacekeeping.

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the government to prepare to retaliate against American and European sanctions imposed on Moscow last week for the support of the pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Gold is often seen as a safe haven for investment in times of geopolitical instability.

The growth of gold was caused by the weak data from several European countries, including Germany and the UK.

In Germany, the volume of orders, industrial enterprises fell in June by 3.2% compared with the previous month - the maximum decline since September 2011.

In the UK in June industrial output growth fell short of expectations: it reached 0.3% from the previous month and 1.2% on an annualized basis.

Italy's GDP, the third-largest eurozone economy, in April-June decreased by 0.2% compared with the previous quarter, which was a decline of 0.1%. In annual terms, the economy has lost 0.3% after contracting a revised 0.4% in January-March.

Trade deficit the United States in June 2014 decreased by 7% to its lowest since January, $ 41.5 billion. In May, according to revised data, the deficit was $ 44.7 billion instead of $ 44.4 billion, as previously reported.

The cost of the August gold futures on the COMEX today rose to $ 1309.00 per ounce.