Gold ends higher, oil futures turn lower as tropical storm heads for Mexico
Gold ends higher, but oil turns lower as Tropical Storm Isaac heads for the Gulf of Mexico.
Gold futures ended higher on Friday, boosted by expectations of
further easing and on better physical demand for the yellow metal.
Gold for December delivery settled at $1,672.80 an ounce, its highest since mid-April.
After this week’s Federal Open Market Committee minutes for August
were released, gold price improved on hopes that the Fed was inching
closer to action.
Heading into the weekend, gold is up more than 3% from last Friday's close.
Meanwhile, crude oil futures ended lower Friday, as forecasts said
that Tropical Storm Isaac is headed for the Gulf of Mexico, where many
oil rigs operate.
Earlier gains in oil futures were also tempered by perceived lack of
action from eurozone leaders in tackling the region’s debt crisis.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in October traded at $96.23 a barrel.
Isaac is due to pass over Cuba and towards the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend, possibly intensifying into a hurricane.
BP (NYSE:BP) and Royal Dutch Shell
(NYSE:RDS.A) said Friday they're starting to evacuate staff from the
Gulf of Mexico as Tropical Storm Isaac's projected path shifted west
into a prime area for U.S. oil and gas production.
While Isaac remains a tropical storm for now as it skirts Haiti and
heads for Cuba, it could strengthen into a hurricane as it moves back
into the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend.
Shell said it's preparing for evacuations of non-essential personnel
in the eastern and central Gulf of Mexico. Drilling operations there
have been suspended. BP
said it's evacuating all workers from its 250,000-barrel-per-day
capacity Thunder Horse production platform in the eastern Gulf and will
temporarily suspend oil and gas production there. BP is also moving non-essential staff from other offshore facilities in the Gulf.
