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Oil prices declined on concerns over the global oil oversupply. Market participants continued to eye the U.S. crude oil inventories data. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its crude oil inventories data on Wednesday. U.S. crude inventories increased by 2.85 million barrels to 482.8 million in the week to October 30. It was the sixth consecutive increase.

Analysts had expected U.S. crude oil inventories to rise by 2.8 million barrels.

Gasoline inventories decreased by 3.3 million barrels, according to the EIA.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, fell by 0.2 million barrels.

U.S. crude oil imports dropped by 89,000 barrels per day.

Refineries in the U.S. were running at 88.7% of capacity, up from 87.6% the previous week.

WTI crude oil for December delivery declined to $45.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude oil for December fell to $48.35 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.

Gold price traded little changed ahead of the release of the U.S. labour market data on Friday. The U.S. unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 5.1% in October. The U.S. economy is expected to add 180,000 jobs in October, after adding 142,000 jobs in September.

Market participants eyed the U.S. economic data. The U.S. Labor Department released its jobless claims figures on Thursday. The number of initial jobless claims in the week ending October 31 in the U.S. rose by 16,000 to 276,000 from 260,000 in the previous week. Analysts had expected the initial jobless claims to increase to 262,000.

Preliminary productivity in the U.S. non-farm businesses rose at a 1.6% annual rate in the third quarter, beating expectations for a 0.2% decrease, after a 3.5% increase in the second quarter. The second quarter's figure was revised up from a 3.3% gain.

The increase was driven by a rise in manufacturing productivity, which rose 4.9%. Hours worked fell by 2.1%.

Preliminary unit labour costs increased 1.4% in the third quarter, missing expectations for a 2.3% rise, after a 1.8 drop in the second quarter. The second quarter's figure was revised down from a 1.4% decrease.

December futures for gold on the COMEX today declined to 1106.20 dollars per ounce.

The U.S. Labor Department released its jobless claims figures on Thursday. The number of initial jobless claims in the week ending October 31 in the U.S. rose by 16,000 to 276,000 from 260,000 in the previous week.

Analysts had expected the initial jobless claims to increase to 262,000.

Jobless claims remained below 300,000 the 35th straight week. This threshold is associated with the strengthening of the labour market.

Continuing jobless claims increased by 17,000 to 2,163,000 in the week ended October 24.

West Texas Intermediate futures for December delivery are currently at $46.40 (+0.17%), while Brent crude is at $48.72 (+0.29%) after sharp drops on Wednesday, which were triggered by data from the Energy Information Administration. An official report said that U.S. crude oil inventories rose by 2.8 million barrels to 482.8 million barrels last week. However, more U.S. refineries are returning to work after seasonal maintenance downtime. U.S. refineries operated at 88.7% capacity compared to 87.6% in the previous week. Nevertheless fundamentals remain unfavorable due to the ongoing oversupply issue.

Gold is currently at $1,108.30 (+0.19%). The precious metal extended its declines on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen pointed to a possible interest rate hike in December. She said that the U.S. economy is likely to continue making substantial progress and that a liftoff in rates in December is "a live possibility". New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley supported Yellen's point of view. "I completely agree with the chair that it is a live possibility, but let's see what the data shows," he said.

Market participants are waiting for more data to assess strength of the U.S. economy and the probability of a data-dependant rate hike. That's why investors will focus on U.S. key jobs report due Friday.

Assets in SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest gold-backed exchange-traded fund in the world, fell to a six-week low of 680.11 tonnes on Wednesday.

(raw materials / closing price /% change)

Oil 46.57 +0.54%

Gold 1,107.00 +0.07%