Gold finishes lower for third session; oil logs 8-day slump

San Francisco (July 8)  Gold prices fell a third session in a row to their lowest settlement in more than two weeks.

Gold for August delivery surrendered 50 cents to finish at $1,316.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In other metals, September silver ended nearly flat $21.01 an ounce following a loss of 1.4 percent in the past two sessions.

October platinum rose 0.1 percent to end at $1,496.50 an ounce, and September palladium rose 0.5 percent to $872.90 an ounce.

High-grade copper for September delivery closed less than half a penny lower at $3.26 a pound.

In energy markets, oil futures marked their eighth straight session decline on the back of expectations of more exports from Libya and a lack of disruptions to Iraqi output.

August crude fell 13 cents to settle at $103.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Islamic State, a splinter group of al-Qaeda, has taken control of provinces in northwestern Iraq after seizing Mosul on June 10. The insurgency hasn’t spread to Iraq’s south, the source of more than three-quarters of its oil output.

U.S. crude inventories may have dropped 2.5 million barrels last week, according to a Bloomberg survey. The Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its data tomorrow.

Source:  ProactiveInvestors