West Texas Intermediate headed for the third weekly gain in four on speculation that economic recovery in the U.S. and Germany will support fuel consumption.

Futures rose for a fifth day as U.S. consumers were more confident than forecast in June and German retail sales grew in May. WTI’s discount to Brent narrowed to the lowest level in more than two years as petroleum demand grew in the U.S. WTI is set for its first monthly advance this quarter, partly on renewed unrest in the Middle East could threaten supplies.

The Thomson Reuters final index of U.S. consumer sentiment was 84.1 in June. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for 83 in the gauge after a preliminary reading of 82.7.

German sales adjusted for inflation and seasonal swings climbed 0.8 percent in May from April, according to the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden. Economists had predicted an increase of 0.4 percent.

WTI for August delivery advanced 39 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $97.44 a barrel at 11:03 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange after rising to $97.82, the highest intraday price since June 20. The volume of all futures traded was 4.2 percent lower than the 100-day average for the time of day. Futures are up 4 percent this week and little changed in the second quarter.

Brent for August settlement rose 30 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $103.12 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Volume was 23 percent below the 100-day average. The European benchmark crude’s premium to WTI shrank to as little as $5.50, the least since January 2011.

Gold prices broke a series of four consecutive declines, starting growth in the last few hours after the release of U.S. consumer sentiment index.

U.S. consumers have become more optimistic about the economy at the end of June. This is evidenced by the published data on Friday, University of Michigan and Reuters. According to the data, the final index of consumer sentiment in June rose to 84.1 compared with the preliminary value of 82.7. Now the index is just below the nearly six-year high 84.5 reached in late May.

At the same time, before the price of gold fell to its lowest level since August 2010 and is likely to show the worst quarterly figure since 1968 for fear of reducing the Fed's incentive program.

Over the past week the spot price fell by 15 percent because of the Fed's plans to reduce the volume of buying up bonds this year and the second quarter of gold fell by 25 percent, the worst performance since the beginning of statistics in 1968.

In contrast to April, when the price fell to a 30-year low, the current decline in quotes do not stimulate much consumption of gold in the largest markets - China and India.

Gold futures in Shanghai on Friday fell by nearly 4 percent. Premium to the spot price in London is $ 4 an ounce in Hong Kong, $ 3 per ounce in Singapore and $ 2 - in Tokyo. Demand in India - the world's largest consumer of gold - rose slightly, as the government in an attempt to reduce the trade deficit increased import duty on precious metals.

Stocks of the world's largest exchange-traded fund backed by gold (ETF) SPDR Gold Trust remained close to a minimum of four years.

The cost of the August gold futures on COMEX today dropped to 1179.40 dollars an ounce, and then rose to 1220.80 dollars an ounce.

Change % Change Last

GOLD 1,199.80 -30.00 -2.44%

OIL (WTI) 96.87 1.37 1.43%