Gold prices rose on Thursday, extending gains for the seventh day, and hit a 3-week high, thanks to the US Treasury bond yields' drop, after the release of the US Federal Reserve's meeting minutes.

Gold prices rose 0.6% to the highest since June 17 at $1,817.9 an ounce, after opening at $1,803.58, and a low at $1,796.27.

Gold gained 0.3% yesterday, in the sixth straight daily gain, in the longest gaining streak since mid-May.

The 10-year US Treasury bond yield fell 5.5% today, deepening losses for the eighth straight day, and hit a 5-month low at 1.25%.

This came after the Federal Reserve released the minutes of its last meeting, which increased uncertainty over the future of the bond-buying program.

The Federal Reserve said that conditions have not met the substantial further progress benchmark to start tightening policy, adding readiness to act in the event of inflation or other economic risks.

Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said that spikes in infections will likely mean that people are going to pull back from engaging in the economy and our recovery is going to be a lot smaller.

Gold stocks at the SPDR ETF fell 1.75 metric tonnes yesterday, with the total at the lowest level since June 7 at 1,040.48 metric tonnes.

USD/JPY tilted lower in Asian trade away from March 2020 highs, following earlier data from Japan and ahead of US data later today. 

As of 06:50 GMT, USD/JPY fell 0.35% to 110.28, with the lowest since June 22 at 110.25, and a session-high at 110.70. 

From Japan, current account surplus rose to 1.87 trillion yen in May from 1.55 trillion in April, while analysts expected 1.59 trillion.

Bank lending rose 1.4% in May, slowing down from 2.8% in April, while an index tracking current conditions improved to 47.6 from 38.1 in May. 

From US, unemployment claims are expected down 19 thousand to 345 thousand in the week ending July 3, while continuing claims for the week ending June 26 are expected down 134 thousand to 3.335 million. 

The Federal Reserve just released the minutes for its June 15-16 meeting, at which it maintained interest rates at near zero. 

The Fed maintained the bonds purchases program at above $120 billion while releasing estimates for three-year growth, inflation, unemployment, and interest rates, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell ruling out a rate hike any time soon. 

Oil prices fell on Wednesday, as the US dollar rose against most majors, and deepened losses due to growing disputes in OPEC-Plus over the UAE’s production hike plan.

OPEC-Plus ministerial meeting has been canceled due to the group failure to reach an agreement on production policy.

Reuters quoted sources that the UAE intends to increase its oil output and rejected a proposal to extend the agreement to cut production after April 2022.

The White House commented that it closely monitoring the OPEC+ negotiations and urged the UAE and Saudi Arabia to compromise solution that will allow proposed production increases to move forward.”

Saudi Arabia proposed to cut production from October 2018 levels, but the UAE wants to allow more output hikes, after its production level stabilized in April 2020 at 3.841 million barrels per day, compared to 3.16 million barrels per day in October 2018.

As of 15:14 GMT, WTI crude August futures fell 2.2% to $71.7 a barrel, after hitting a high of $74.8 and a low of $71.07.

Brent August futures fell 2% to $73.1 a barrel, after hitting a high of $75.9 and a low of $72.6.

Nickel prices rose on Wednesday, and shrugged off the US dollar's rise against most of its peers, and the metal extended its gains thanks to positive the global economic outlook.

The continued recovery of the global economy, led by the US economy, will undoubtedly lift demand for commodities and metals.

The metal also is being lifted by growing demand from automakers, as it recently has attracted strong demand from the electric vehicle industry.

The Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its last meeting later today, during which it projected to raise the interest rate twice in 2023.

The dollar index rose against a basket of currencies by 0.1% to 92.6 points as of 13:50 GMT, after it hit a high of 92.6 points and a low of 92.4 points.

As of 14:01 GMT, nickel spot futures rose 0.4% to $18,560 per tonne.