Gold prices rose on Thursday, extending gains for the third straight day, as the US dollar fell against most of its rivals after the release of weak data in the US.

Gold prices rose 0.2% to $1,817.11 an ounce, after opening at $1,813.80, and hit a low of $1,810.64.

Gold closed higher by 0.1% yesterday, the second straight daily gain, as most dollar-denominated commodities rose.

The dollar index fell 0.1% today, deepening its losses for the fifth straight day, and hit its 1-month low at 92.37 points against a basket of its peers. 

Dollar purchases slowed down following recent bearish remarks by Fed Chair Jerome Powell, which pushed back the expected timeline for raising interest rates. 

Now investors await a variety of important US data this week, including private sector employment data which would help determine the likely path of interest rates. 

Gold stocks at the SPDR ETF remained unchanged yesterday, with the total at the lowest level since April 9 at 1,000.26 metric tonnes.

Oil prices rose on Thursday, to head for the first daily gain in 3 days, after a large drop in the US inventories, in a positive sign of the US demand levels.

US crude fell 1% to $68.92 barrel, after opening at $68.25, and hit a high at $67.88, and Brent crude fell 1% to $71.94 a barrel, after opening at $71.24, and hit a low at $70.94.

The US crude lost 0.4% yesterday, and Brent fell 0.5%, in their second straight daily loss.

The Energy Information Administration reported yesterday that the US crude inventories fell 7.2 million barrels, during the week ending August 27, while analysts forecasts a drop by 2.5 million barrels.

The total commercial inventories fell to the lowest level since the week ending on September 27, 2019 at 425.38 million barrels, in a positive sign of the US demand levels.

While the US output rose 100,000 barrels last week, with the total at the highest level since May 2020 at 11.5 million barrels per day, marking the US place as the world's largest oil producer.

OPEC Plus announced, after yesterday's meeting, to continue with the current production policy, despite pressures from the US President Joe Biden's administration to increase production further to support the global economic recovery.

The global alliance had decided during its previous meeting to increase production by 400,000 barrels per day starting in August.

The current output cut is around 5.6 million bpd will continue until the end of 2022, and the agreement will be reviewed monthly.

Euro rose in European trade against dollar for fifth straight session on track to hit month highs after weak US labor data, which will help determine the likely path of US policy tightening. 

EUR/USD rose over 0.1% to 1.1852, with an intraday low at 1.1834, after rising 0.3% yesterday, the fourth profit in a row, marking a month high at 1.1857 after weak US private sector employment data. 

The dollar index fell 0.1% on Thursday for the fifth straight session to near month lows at 92.37 against a basket of major rivals. 

The dollar's decline comes following disappointing private sector data from the US, which hurt chances of an earlier rate hike by the Federal Reserve. 

Recent inflation data in Europe showed the highest spike in ten years, increasing inflationary pressures on policymakers in Europe which might force them to cut back on monetary easing sooner than expected. 

US stock indices closed mostly higher on Wednesday, after the release of conflicting economic data, and ahead of the US monthly jobs report, and Nasdaq managed to hit a new record closing for the 33rd time this year.

ADB data showed that the US private sector added 374K new jobs in August, missing forecasts of 640K.

This comes ahead of the US August's monthly jobs report next Friday.

The US manufacturing PMI rose to 59.9 points in August, from 59.5 points in July, beating forecasts of 58.5 points.

To the oil market, WTI crude October futures rose 0.1% or 9 cents, and closed at $68.59 a barrel.

Brent crude October futures fell 0.1% or 4 cents, and closed at $71.59 a barrel.

As for stocks, Dow Jones fell 0.1% or 48 points, and closed at 35,312, and hit a day high of 35,407, and a low of 35,287.

S&P 500 rose 0.1% or 1 point to 4,524, after hitting a high of 4,537 and a low of 4,522.

Nasdaq rose 0.3% or 50 points to 15,309, with a high of 15,279 and a low of 15,302.