Brent traded near the highest level since September and West Texas Intermediate was little changed as militants in Iraq seized more territory and President Barack Obama warned that the crisis may spill over into other countries.

Brent futures climbed as much as 0.7 percent in London. Fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant took control of Iraq's border crossings with Jordan and Syria, Hameed Ahmed Hashim, a member of the Anbar provincial council, said by phone yesterday. A Chinese manufacturing gauge rose to a seven-month high in June, indicating that the economy of the world's second-biggest oil user may be picking up.

"We see further price gains, regardless of the fact that oil supply remains unaffected" in Iraq, Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, said by e-mail. "It's fear that drives prices up, not real supply disruptions. The latter remain very unlikely."

Brent for August settlement advanced as much as 85 cents to $115.66 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange and was at $114.83 at 1:37 p.m. London time. The grade traded at $115.71 on June 19, the highest since Sept. 9. Prices have gained 3.6 percent this year. The European benchmark crude was at a premium of $8.04 to WTI on ICE, from $7.98 on June 20.

WTI for August delivery rose as much as 62 cents to $107.45 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The July contract expired at $107.26 on June 20. The volume of futures traded was about 2.4 percent below the 100-day average for the time of day.

The price of gold is slightly increased while as investors assess data on the U.S. housing market.

Sales in the secondary housing market increased significantly by the end of May, exceeding expectations in this, which is a sign of improvement during an important shopping season.

National Association of Realtors reported that the seasonally adjusted volume of home sales in May increased by 4.9% to an annual rate of 4.89 million units. Economists forecast a decline of this indicator to the level of 4.74 million units.

We also learned that the April sales figure was revised up to 4.66 million from 4.65 million, registering a 1.5% increase compared with the previous month. Add that it was the second consecutive monthly increase after a decline in sales in each of the first three months of the year. However, sales were down 5% compared with May last year.

Recall that the pace of home sales began to decline gradually in the middle of last year, after mortgage interest rates rose sharply. Unusually cold winter in much of the country also dampened demand. Potential buyers at the same time struggling with the rising cost of housing and limited reserves. Nevertheless, in recent years, this trend is starting to change for the better.

Today's report also showed that the average price of housing in the secondary market rose in May by 5.1% compared with last year - to $ 213,400. This was the slowest annual increase since March 2012.

The National Association of Realtors also said that inventories of homes for sale rose by 6% compared with 2013 year. At the current pace of sales, require 5.6 months to exhaust the entire stock.

The cost of the August gold futures on the COMEX today rose to $ 1318.8 per ounce.

Gold $1,314.80 -1.90 -0.14%

ICE Brent Crude Oil $114.81 -0.25 -0.22%

NYMEX Crude Oil $107.30 +0.55 +0.52%