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Gold, oil end lower again in New York

Gold, oil end lower again in New York

Write: Lainey [2011-05-20]
Oil and gold prices closed lower again for a third straight week as number of market trends turned against these hot commodities towards the end.

The black gold dipped as a disappointing service sector report and fading Hurricane Earl offset the better-than-expected jobs data while the precious yellow metal also suffered due to the payrolls data but pared some losses on weak dollar.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell 42 cents to settle at $74.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange while Brent crude for October delivery fell closed at $76.54 a barrel on the International Futures Exchange in London.

Comex December gold futures lost $2.30 to settle at $1,251.10 an ounce on the comex division of the Nymex while comex December silver jumped 27.70 cents to close at $19.949 an ounce.

Oil also erased gains and fell after the Institute for Supply Management said its service-sector index fell to 51.5 last month from 54.3 in July, signaling a slower growth.

The latest non-farm payroll report showed that U.S. economy lost 54,000 jobs in August, way better than the 110,000 losses economists had expected.

Oil prices were denied anticipated gains as Hurricane Earl has weakened, easing fears about disruption on refineries on the U.S. East Coast.

Gold investors also trimmed losses ahead of the long U.S.holiday weekend, with some players not wanting to leave large open positions for three days.

U.S. dollar was down against most foreign currencies after the surprisingly strong non-farm payroll report eased worries about the economy and boosted the appetite for riskier assets.