Daily Gold Update

Source: Marketwatch

New York— Gold futures erased earlier losses to finish higher on Wednesday, after an unexpected drawdown of U.S. crude oil inventories led oil prices to jump, the dollar to slump, and stocks on Wall Street to come off earlier lows. Gold had come under pressure earlier as another big drop in Chinese stock markets again applied pressure on global stocks and commodities for the second time this week. Gold for December delivery ended up $5.60, or 0.6%, at $944.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It earlier fell to a low of $933.30 an ounce and rose to a high of $946.80.

Oil futures topped $72 a barrel Wednesday after the government reported crude supplies unexpectedly plunged by 8.4 million barrels last week, while gasoline and distillate stocks also declined. Analysts surveyed by Platts expected a rise of 1.1 million barrels in crude stocks. After the data, September oil futures jumped to an intraday high of $71.35 a barrel on Globex, and last traded at $70.33 a barrel. "After the oil inventories numbers, we saw the dollar soften, which helped lift gold," said James Moore, metals analyst at TheBullionDesk.com. See full story.