In the 12 months through March, U.S. inflation rose 2.7% after advancing 2.5% in February. So the U.S. central bank policymakers are expected to leave rates unchanged next week.This factor prevented further growth in oil prices.
Supply concerns supported prices as tensions continue in the Middle East. Israel has stepped up its airstrikes on Rafah, which seems to have reignited concern about the security of oil supply in the Middle East as Tel Aviv’s Western allies urged the country not to increase the attacks for fear of escalation with Iran.
The US Treasury Secretary’s remarks suggesting that the weak economic growth and gross domestic product data for the first quarter of the year may be subject to revision helped reduce oil traders’ concerns about the country’s economic situation. Those showed a GDP growth rate of just 1.6% for the first quarter and an accelerated inflation rate of 3.7% in personal consumption expenditures.
Another contributing factor to the rise in oil prices this week was the state of U.S. inventories, which recorded a decline for the last week. The Energy Information Administration(EIA) said on Wednesday that crude oil inventories had shed as much as 6.4 million barrels in the week to April 19. This substantial decrease was evidently perceived as significant enough to foster a more bullish sentiment in the oil market.

Gold stood at the rate of 3,338 dollars in the world market. The trend of the global gold market shows an increase of 54 dollars in the price of gold during the last week, although the performance of the market for a month still indicates an increase of 143 dollars in the price of an ounce of gold.
Recent statements by Federal Reserve officials indicate that the central bank is in no rush to cut interest rates. Higher rates reduce the attractiveness of holding gold without yield.
China’s net gold imports via Hong Kong rose 40 percent in March from the previous month, the data showed. JP Morgan stated that gold’s peak target is US$2,600.