SH: Commodities: Oil gushes past $80, gold at fresh high
LONDON (SHARECAST) - Crude oil futures pushed well above $80 a barrel on Friday as the weaker dollar and concern about a second round of stimulus from the Federal Reserve encouraged buyers.
Crude for November delivery gained $1.61 to $81.58 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The greenback skidded to a six-month low against the euro as the Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley outlined his support for further financial stimulus due to the poor outlook for jobs and inflation. He said the US central bank would almost certainly need to offer a new round of stimulus.
Otherwise markets digested a disappointing manufacturing report. US manufacturing rose at the slowest rate for 12 months in September, with the Institute for Supply Management’s factory index down to 54.4 from 56.3.
Oil gains lost their momentum following the report but were put back on track as focus turned to strong manufacturing data from China.
Crude hit an intra-day high of $81.71 a barrel on Friday as the fourth quarter got underway.
Gold hit another record high on Friday with the front month December contract surging $8.20 to $1,317.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold’s momentum is expected to continue on expectations of more quantitative easing in the US.
Silver for December surged 24 cents to $22.06 an ounce.
