ND: Oil Gains as German Outlook Rises, Gold Flat Ahead of Weekly U.S. Jobs Data
Oil is on the rise in early morning trade, lifted by a rise in bourses worldwide which in turn has bolstered energy demand. Germany's Bundesbank reported that the nation's GDP will rise by 3% in 2010, up from its forecast of 1.9% growth rate predicted in June.
Gold is unchanged but the yellow metal is expected to trend higher in the longer term as the allure of safe haven assets remain amid worries about the global economic outlook. Traders will be keeping a careful eye on the release of weekly U.S. jobs data and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's business activity index later in the morning for further clues on U.S. economic outlook.
At 0750 ET, Brent crude is up 0.4% at $76.74 a barrel, while light sweet crude is up 0.4% too at $75.69 a barrel, and natural gas is down 0.3% at $4.23 a million British thermal units.
Gold is flat at $1,231.40 an ounce, while silver is up 0.4% at $18.52 an ounce, and copper is up 0.9% at $3.39 a pound.
Essar Energy plc (ESSR) said it spent over $1.5 billion on 16 projects in the first six months of this year, and has raised over 80% of the required debt financing to cover expansion plans. The Indian power generator is looking to bolster its power generating capacity to 11,500 megawatts by 2014 from 1,220 megawatts.
Meanwhile, the Business Standard reported that Essar and Indian Oil Corp. have bid for five retail fuel outlets owned by Royal Dutch Shell plc's (RDSA) India unit.
For its part, Shell said it could spend up to $50 billion in Australia over the next decade, according to Bloomberg. The energy giant also expects over 50% of its production to come from gas by 2012.
CNOOC Ltd's chairman CNOOC Ltd ( CEO ) Fu Chengyu said that he will remain the head of China's biggest offshore oil and gas producer for another two years.
Meanwhile, mining giant BHP Billiton plc ( BHP ) appears to have no rivals as it looks for regulatory approval in its $39 billion hostile bid for Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Inc ( POT ), according to Reuters.
Barrick Gold Corp ( ABX ) Chairman Peter Munk said the price of gold will continue to rise in the longer term as global economies remain unstable, and sees no reason to hedge against a decline in the yellow metal.
