Gold prices rose on Wednesday, extending gains for the sixth straight day, and hit a 2-month high, as the US dollar fell against a basket of major currencies.

Gold prices rose 0.5% to to the highest since November 9 at $1,959.29 an ounce, after opening at $1,950.41 and hitting a low of $1,941.36.

The yellow metal gained 0.4% yesterday, and posted the fifth straight daily gain, within the longest winning streak since July 2020, thanks to falling dollar and strong safe-haven demand.

The US dollar index fell by 0.3% against a basket of major currencies today, for the third straight day and hit its 34-month low at 89.22 points.

The greenback continued to drop on Wednesday, as demand slowed due to investors sentiment and shifted to high-risk currencies.

The market sentiment improved as the US Democratic Party got closer to controlling the Senate, which would -alongside controlling the House of Representatives- give the President-elect Joe Biden more freedom to enact his agenda.

Gold stocks at the SPDR ETF rose 1.17 metric tonnes yesterday, with the total at 1,186.78 MT.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday, extending gains for the second day, and jumped to 11-month high thanks to Saudi Arabia’s voluntary decision to cut production by 1 million barrels in February and March to support the market, in addition to OPEC-Plus decision to keep the current output levels in the next two months. Prices are also lifted by a drop in the US crude inventories.

US crude rose 1.6% to the highest since February 2020 at $50.57 a barrel, after opening at $49.79, and hit a low of $49.71, and Brent crude rose 2.1% to the highest since February at $54.60 a barrel, after opening at $53.51, and hit a low of $53.51.

US crude gained 5.2% yesterday, and Brent crude futures rose 5.5%, the largest daily gain since November 9, after the OPEC-Plus monthly meeting concluded.

Saudi Energy Minister, Abdulaziz bin Salman said that his country would voluntarily cut its production by 1 million barrels per day in February and March to balance the market.

The meeting of OPEC-Plus Joint Ministerial Committee, which is held to review the global output cut agreement, concluded with an agreement to keep the current production levels unchanged until the end of March.

OPEC-Plus agreed on early December to increase output by 500,000 barrels per day starting from January 2021, and agreed to hold a monthly ministerial meeting to review the market situation and adjust production levels accordingly.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) revealed yesterday in preliminary data that the US crude inventories fell by about 1.7 million barrels during the week ending January 1, beating forecasts of a drop by 1.2 million barrels.

The total commercial inventories fell to 495.5 million barrels, the lowest level since the week ending 20 November, which is considered a positive sign of the US domestic demand.

While the US Energy Information Administration's official data will be released later today, amid forecasts for inventories to fall by 2.8 million barrels.

At 13:15 GMT, the US economy released its reading of the ADP Non-Farm employment change index for December at -123K new jobs, l;osing jobs for the first time since May 2020 due to the second wave of coronavirus, which is worse than forecasts of 60K jobs, and worse than the previous reading of 304K after it was revised from 307K. This data is negative for the US economy.

Oil prices continued to rise as the US market opened on Wednesday, extending gains for the second day, and jumped to 11-month high thanks to Saudi Arabia’s voluntary decision to cut production by 1 million barrels in February and March to support the market, in addition to OPEC-Plus decision to keep the current output levels in the next two months. Prices are also by a drop in the US crude inventories, ahead of EIA's weekly report later today.

US crude rose 1.6% to the highest since February 2020 at $50.57 a barrel, after opening at $49.79, and hit a low of $49.71, and Brent crude rose 2.1% to , the highest since February at $54.60 a barrel, after opening at $53.51, and hit a low of $53.51.

US crude gained 5.2% yesterday, and Brent crude futures rose 5.5%, the largest daily gain since November 9, after the OPEC-Plus monthly meeting concluded.

Saudi Energy Minister, Abdulaziz bin Salman said that his country would voluntarily cut its production by 1 million barrels per day in February and March to balance the market.

The meeting of OPEC-Plus Joint Ministerial Committee, which is held to review the global output cut agreement, concluded with an agreement to keep the current production levels unchanged until the end of March.

OPEC-Plus agreed on early December to increase output by 500,000 barrels per day starting from January 2021, and agreed to hold a monthly ministerial meeting to review the market situation and adjust production levels accordingly.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) revealed yesterday in preliminary data that the US crude inventories fell by about 1.7 million barrels during the week ending January 1, beating forecasts of a drop by 1.2 million barrels.

The total commercial inventories fell to 495.5 million barrels, the lowest level since the week ending 20 November, which is considered a positive sign of the US domestic demand.

While the US Energy Information Administration's official data will be released later today, amid forecasts for inventories to fall by 2.8 million barrels.

The US production remained unchanged last week, with a total of 11.0 million barrels per day.

Oil prices are also being lifted by the sharp drop in the US currency, making the dollar-denominated prices of commodities cheaper for other currencies holders.