Gold closes lower as investors shift to stocks
Gold futures fell on Wednesday, as investor rushed to stock markets and eschewed precious metals, despite the US dollar drop against most currencies.
The US Congress will later vote on the $2 trillion stimulus aid package to counter the coronavirus economic impact.
Informed sources at the White House confirmed that an agreement has been reached with the US Congress on the stimulus package, and will be passed.
The dollar index fell 1% to trade at 101.02 points as of 19:25 GMT, with a high of 101.9 and a low of 100.9.
Gold April futures fell 1.7% or $27.4, to close at $1,633.4 an ounce, after hitting a day high of $1,699.3 and a low of $1,615.2.
Dollar extends losses despite reported agreement on stimulus package
The US dollar fell against most of its rivals on Wednesday, extending its losses, despite the anticipation of hughe US stimulus package.
Informed sources at the White House confirmed that an agreement has been reached with the US Congress on the $2 trillion stimulus aid package.
The deadly virus continued to cast a shadow on global markets as more countries continued to announce huge stimulus packages to counter the virus economic impact.
Bearing in mind that the US President Donald Trump had stated that he expected the virus will be terminated in his country by Easter in April.
This came after the US Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, assured that the US is able to eliminate the coronavirus and its impact within 12 weeks.
The dollar index fell 1% to trade at 101.02 points as of 18:45 GMT, after hitting a high of 101.9 and a low of 100.9.
Canadian dollar rises as oil rebounds
The Canadian dollar rose against most of its major counterparts today, lifted by a recovery in oil prices and stock markets.
White House officials confirmed that an agreement has been reached with the US Congress on the $2 trillion stimulus aid package.
The package is aimed at providing support for US companies, industries and families to ease the coronavirus impact.
In the oil market, WTI crude rose by 1.8% to trade $24.4 a barrel as of 16:51 GMT, with an intraday high of $25.2 and a low of $22.9.
Brent rose 0.1% to $27.1 a barrel, after it hit a high of $28.2 and a low of $25.6.
As of 17:06 GMT, CAD/USD rose 1.2% to 0.6995, with a high of 0.6999, and a low of 0.6904.
Oil erases losses, turns up following US inventories data
Oil prices saw a mixed performance on Wednesday, but wiped out the earlier losses and turned upwards after the release of a less-than-expected build in the US crude inventories data.
The US Energy Information Administration reported that the oil inventories rose 1.6 million barrels during the past week, beating estimates of 2.5 million barrels.
While the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed yesterday in preliminary data that inventories fell by 1.25 million barrels during the same period.
The dollar index fell 0.7% to trade at 101.3 points as of 17:08 GMT, after hitting a high of 101.9 and a low of 101.1.
As of 17:02 GMT, WTI crude rose by 1.5% to $24.3 a barrel, with an intraday high of $25.2 and a low of $22.9.
Brent rose 0.1% to $27.1 a barrel, after it hit a high of $28.2 and a low of $25.6.