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West Texas Intermediate crude rebounded from the lowest close in almost three weeks as the U.S. said it will toughen sanctions on Russia, the biggest energy exporter, over the Ukraine crisis. Brent was steady as Libya lifted force majeure at one of its ports.

Futures advanced as much as 0.9 percent in New York. The U.S. will impose new sanctions today on people and companies close to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, President Barack Obama said. Among those that may be targeted are Igor Sechin, chief executive officer of OAO Rosneft, the country’s biggest oil producer, people familiar with developments said. Libya’s National Oil Corp. will lift a suspension of exports at the port of Zueitina, previously under rebel control, from today.

“The price is being supported by uncertainty as to the breadth and impact of sanctions taken against Russia,” Christopher Bellew, a senior broker at Jefferies Bache Ltd. in London, said by e-mail. “Another important consideration is how Russia might retaliate against sanctions.”

WTI for June delivery rose as much as 92 cents to $101.52 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and traded for $101.17 at 1:47 p.m. London time. Prices dropped 1.3 percent to $100.60 on April 25, the lowest settlement since April 7. The volume of all futures traded was about 8.5 percent below the 100-day average for the time of day.

Brent for June settlement pared gains of as much as 62 cents to $110.20 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, trading for $109.62 at 1:49 p.m. London time. The contract closed at $109.58 on April 25, down 0.7 percent, the biggest decline since April 7.

The U.S. benchmark crude was at a discount of $8.46 to Brent on ICE. It ended the April 25 session at $8.98, the widest based on closing prices in six weeks.

Gold prices down by a stronger dollar after a report on the U.S. housing market . Data presented by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), showed that at the end of last month, the number of contracts for the purchase of housing in the secondary market has increased markedly , thereby exceeded the forecasts , and fixing the first increase in the past nine months. Experts note that the recent improvement - a sign of stabilization in the housing market after the recent fluctuations.

According to the data , in March, the number of pending home sales increased by 3.7% after falling 0.5% in the previous month ( revised from -0.8 %). Many experts predicted growth in this index is only 1.0%. Recall that for the closing of the contract takes approximately 1-2 months.

If evaluated in the regional context , we can see that the growth was in the north- east, south and west , and the decrease - in the Midwest .

Meanwhile, it was reported that , despite the surge in the last month , the number of outstanding transactions are still 7.9% lower than in March last year.

March data suggest that in the near future sales will continue to grow , after a decline last summer , which was due to expectations of an increase in mortgage interest rates.

Traders await the results of the two-day meeting of the Committee of the Fed 's Open Market , which begins Tuesday .

June futures on COMEX gold fell to $ 1292.10 .