Oil prices rose, with rising above the level of $ 102 per barrel, which was backed up by an early weakening the dollar, while the discount for U.S. crude oil, Brent crude fell below $ 10, the first time since June 2012. Economists note that U.S. crude futures were trading at a discount to Brent wide due to a large supply of stores in key Cushing (Oklahoma). But the pipeline is now taking more oil to the U.S. Gulf Coast, easing the supply pressure at Cushing. Meanwhile, experts have pointed out that the weak dollar makes commodities evaluation in dollars more affordable for buyers using other currencies. However, they say little doubt returning to the market after the price increase late Wednesday that followed a weekly report on U.S. crude stocks. Also on the dynamics of trade have influenced the data, which were published today by the Bank of Korea, and showed that the South Korean economy has grown substantially in the first quarter, while showing the most rapid expansion over the past two years, despite the continued depreciation of the Japanese yen, which hurts the export sector of the country. According to the report, the seasonally adjusted gross domestic product grew in the first quarter to 0.9 percent, which is significantly higher than the increase of 0.3 percent, which was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2012. Note that such a significant increase was slightly above the average forecast of experts at the level of 0.7 percent expansion. In addition, it was reported that it was the fastest rate of growth since the first quarter of 2011, when GDP expanded by 1.3 percent.

Analysts and traders said the technical picture remains "bearish", pointing to weak growth in global demand and abundant supplies from the North Sea, the Middle East and North Africa.

The cost of the June futures on U.S. light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) rose to 92.07 dollars per barrel, the lowest intraday level since Dec. 19.

June futures price for North Sea Brent crude oil mixture rose $ 0.62 to $ 102.47 a barrel on the London exchange ICE Futures Europe.

Gold prices rose today, having risen by almost 2 percent to its highest level in the past 10 days, helped by the earlier weakening of the dollar, stable prices of other commodities and the continued demand for physical metal, which podderivaet market for more than a week. Traders also received support from the central bank, after data from the International Monetary Fund showed that Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkey have continued to increase their reserves in the last month. Meanwhile, it was reported that Turkey imported 18.5 thousand tons in the first three weeks of April. But the daily outflow of exchange-traded funds showed no signs of abating, suggesting that investor confidence is unlikely to be restored soon after last week's sell-off occurred. Note that the gold reserves in the SPDR Gold Trust fell by 0.38% on Wednesday from Tuesday, its lowest level since late 2009.

Analysts also say that higher prices contributed to short-covering, which occurs when traders are forced to buy assets that they would agree to sell in the future expectations of falling prices. Meanwhile, they add that a weak dollar can help, but the historical inverse correlation between the currency and gold has been mixed in the past few days. It is also worth noting that the newly presented a positive report on the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance have raised hopes that the Fed will keep its bond-buying program by 2014, which will act in favor of gold.

Recall that earlier this month, gold has come under pressure after the European Central Bank and the IMF has asked Cyprus to sell stocks worth about 400 million euros ($ 523 million) in a deal to save what caused speculation that the other indebted euro zone countries could follow suit.

The cost of the June gold futures on COMEX today rose to 1454.00 dollars per ounce.

Change % Change Last

GOLD 1,429.60 20.80 1.48%

OIL (WTI) 91.55 2.37 2.66%