(raw materials / closing price /% change)

Light Crude 97.65 -0.53%

Gold 1,281.70 +0.03%

Prices for Brent crude fell slightly today, dropping at the same time below $ 106 a barrel as higher OPEC production and weak demand in the U.S. outweighed fears of unrest in the Middle East, Africa and Ukraine. Add that in July the price of WTI crude oil fell by 5.7% - the maximum reduction for 9 months. Brent since the beginning of the month fell by 5.8%.

Today's data showed that crude oil production in OPEC was greater in July than in the previous month, despite fears that unrest in North Africa and the Middle East could hurt production. Meanwhile, we note that gasoline stocks in the United States rose last week by 365 thousand barrels - up to 218.2 million barrels, the highest level in 4 months. At the same time, the average volume of gasoline consumption in the past four weeks fell by 0.5% - to the lowest level since May, despite the peak driving season in the United States.

"It's incredible that gasoline inventories rose at all, given that the peak demand season now," - said the director of Energy Analytics Group LLC Tom Finlon. Over the past four weeks, gasoline demand in the U.S. fell by 0.5% to 8.948 million barrels. / day.

It should also add that today, analysts Reuters raised its forecast for Brent oil prices in 2014 and 2015 taking into account the geopolitical risks. Average price forecast for 2014 rose to $ 108.60 a barrel from $ 108.00 in June, while the forecast for 2015 - to $ 105.20 from $ 104.80.

"The oil market is roughly balanced, however, oil prices should remain steady range. Do not expect any serious supply problems, as Saudi Arabia will be able to compensate for all the missing supplies, "- said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.

Meanwhile, we note that the United States for the first time in 40 years sent crude oil for export. On the night of July 31, 2014, the tanker BW Zambesi under the flag of Singapore, left the port of Texas City towards South Korea. The tanker is 400 thousand barrels of oil, the cost of which is estimated at 40 million U.S. dollars. Officially, the U.S. export policy has not changed, especially on the eve of elections, but preliminary shipping oil to South Korea can contribute in the future removal of the ban on exports.

The cost of the September futures on U.S. light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) fell to $ 99.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).

September futures price for North Sea Brent crude oil mixture fell 5 cents to $ 105.96 a barrel on the London exchange ICE Futures Europe.

Gold prices fell markedly today, reaching at this six-week low, which was associated with the strengthening of the dollar and the Fed's statement yesterday.

FOMC decision to leave interest rates unchanged and reduce the amount of the third round of quantitative easing was expected. However, the accompanying statement was somewhat different from the previous one, which reinforced expectations earlier Fed interest rate increase. Without a doubt, this is a negative factor for gold. Analysts believe that before tomorrow's publication of data on employment in the U.S. non-farm payrolls, which will indicate the degree of recovery in the labor market, speculators refrain from taking action. It should be noted that if the employment report in the U.S. will be good market expectations for a more rapid closure or stimulate a quicker rate hikes grow.

The course of trade also influenced today's data, which showed that the number of initial claims for unemployment benefits rose by 23,000 and amounted to a seasonally adjusted 302,000 in the week ended July 26. Data were slightly better than expected. Economists on average had forecast 306,000 initial claims. Treatment in the previous week were revised up to 279,000, the lowest level since May 2000. The four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out weekly volatility, fell by 3,500 to 297,250 - the lowest level since April 2006. The report also showed: number of workers continuing to receive unemployment benefits increased by 31,000 and reached a seasonally adjusted 2.54 million in the week ended July 19.

Meanwhile, we add that, despite the decline in prices, the demand for gold is still supported as the tensions between Russia and the West because of the situation in Ukraine remains high, while the fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza also remain in the spotlight. The precious metal is often seen as a safe haven for investment in times of geopolitical instability.

The cost of the August gold futures on the COMEX today fell by $ 8.8 - to $ 1286.10 per ounce.

(raw materials / closing price /% change)

Light Crude 99.33 -0.94%

Gold 1,295.10 +0.02%