Gold price down 0.3% at $1,092.60; WTI adds 1.7% to $48.79

New York (July 29)  Gold futures settled lower today, then headed higher in electronic trading after the Federal Reserve was seen as leaving the door open for an interest-rate hike in September.

As expected, policy makers left interest rates unchanged today. The decision and the accompanying statement were announced after prices had settled for the day on Comex.

Shortly after the statement was released, August gold traded at $1,096.60 an ounce in electronic trading. That’s above the settlement of $1,092.60 on Comex, where prices finished down 0.3 percent for the session.

In the statement, the Federal Reserve was slightly more upbeat about the economy and make subtle changes to the six-paragraph policy statement.

Among other metals, September silver settled today at $14.743 an ounce, up 0.7 percent.

Platinum for October delivery lost 0.2 percent to $984.90 an ounce, while September palladium shed 1 percent to $615.60 an ounce.

September copper settled at $2.408 a pound, down half a cent.

In energy trading, oil futures settled higher today, with U.S. prices scoring their second-biggest one-day percentage gain of July after U.S. government data showed sizable weekly declines in crude supplies and production.

West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery added 1.7 percent to settle at $48.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was trading down at around $47.70 before the supply data. The biggest percentage gain for the month was seen on July 9, when prices rose about 2.2 percent.

ICE September Brent crude tacked on 0.2 percent to $53.38 a barrel.

Source: ProactiveInvestors