Gold prices rose on Thursday, extending gains for the second day, within recovery from a 2-month low, as investors wait for key US jobs data that will provide cues on the future of the US Federal Reserve's policy. 

Gold prices rose 0.5% to $1,778.97 an ounce, after opening at $1,769.84, and a high at $1,765.59.

Gold gained 0.5% yesterday, and posted its first daily gain in 3 days, within recovery from a 2-month low at $1,750.58 an ounce.

Gold prices lost 7.1% in June, the first monthly loss in 3 months, and the largest since February, after the Federal Reserve raised its expectations of the US interest rates and inflation.

The ongoing gold's recovery come ahead of pivotal data on US employment tomorrow, which might lead the Fed to cut its bonds purchases sooner than expected and start raising interest rates.

Fed Dallas President Robert Kaplan said Wednesday he would like the Fed to start by the end of the year reducing the pace of asset purchases, in part to make an abrupt policy tightening less likely later on.

Gold stocks at the SPDR ETF remained unchanged yesterday, with the total at 1,045.78 metric tonnes.

Oil prices rose on Thursday, extending gains for the third day, and the US crude hit a 3-year high following a large drop in the US crude inventories, and ahead of the monthly meeting of the OPEC-Plus collation.

US crude rose 1.4% to the highest since October 2018 at $74.53 a barrel, after opening at $73.50, and hit a low at $73.41, and Brent crude rose more than 1.3% to $75.66 a barrel, after opening at $74.65, and hit a low at $74.58.

The US crude gained 0.1% yesterday, and Brent crude rose less than 0.1%.

Oil prices gained around 8.5% last month, the third straight monthly gain, and the largest since February, thanks to sings on of the recovery of the global fuel demand.

The Energy Information Administration reported yesterday that the US crude inventories fell 6.7 million barrels during the week ending on June 25, while analysts forecasts a drop by 4.2 million barrels.

The total commercial inventories fell to the lowest level since the week ending on March 6, 2020 at 452.3 million barrels, in a positive sign of the US demand levels.

While the US output remained unchanged last week, with the total at 11.1 million barrels per day.

The meeting of OPEC-Plus Joint Ministerial Committee will launch later today, to review the global output cut agreement and to determine production levels during August, especially after the outbreak of the highly contagious Covid-19 delta strain.

During the coalition meeting in early April, a gradual increase in supplies was approved starting in May, with a total of 1.15 million barrels per day distributed over three months.

The decision included an increase of 350,000 bpd in May, a similar increase in June, and 450,000 bpd in July.

According to this decision, the current output cut fell by 7.2 million barrels in April to 6.85 million barrels in May, and to 6.5 million barrels in June, and then to nearly 6 million barrels in July.

Euro fell in European trade for the fourth straight session against dollar, marking four-month lows as investors buy up the greenback for haven demand,

EUR/USD fell 0.2% to 1.1837, the lowest since April 6 after marking a high at 1.1860, while losing 0.35% yesterday, the third loss in a row following strong US labor data. 

Euro lost 3% in June, the first loss in three months, and the largest monthly loss since May 2018. 

The heavy losses came amid concerns of a divergent policies for Europe and the US, with the Fed hinting at a clear path for raising interest rates sooner than expected. 

The dollar index rose 0.2% on Thursday for the fourth straight session, marking 3-month highs at 92.55. 

Investors continue to focus on buying up the greenback as a safe haven as the virulent "Delta" Covid 19 strain spreads all over the world. 

Investors now await pivotal data on US employment tomorrow, which might lead the Fed to cut its bonds purchases sooner than expected. 

Most of the major US stock indices closed higher Wednesday, buoyed by the release of upbeat economic data, and posted monthly and quarterly gains.

ADP data showed that the US private sector has added 692K new jobs in May, beating forecasts of 555K new jobs.

The US pending home sales index jumped 8% in May, beating forecasts of a drop by 1.1%.

The US Department of Labor will release the monthly jobs report on Friday, amid expectations of continued recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic repercussions.

To the oil market, WTI crude August futures rose 0.7% or 49 cents, and closed at $73.47 a barrel, with a monthly gain of 10.1%, after hitting a high of $74.1 and a low of $72.8.

Brent August futures rose 0.5% or 37 cents, and closed at $75.13 a barrel, with a monthly gain of 8%, after hitting a high of $75.6 and a low of $74.3.

As for stocks, Dow Jones rose 0.6% or 210 points, and closed at 34,502, and posted a monthly loss of 0.1%, but with a quarterly gain of 4.6%, a day high of 34,553, and a low of 34,245.

S&P 500 rose 0.1% or 8 points to 4,297, and posted monthly gains of 2% and a quarterly gains of 8%, after hitting a high of 4,302 and a low of 4,287.

Nasdaq fell 0.2% or 24 points to 14,503, and registered a 5% monthly gain and 9.5% quarterly gain, with a high of 14,526 and a low of 14,478.