New York-traded oil futures ended higher on Thursday, shaking off earlier weakness, while Brent prices hit fresh multi-year lows but held above $50 a barrel.
Light, sweet crude futures for delivery in February CLG5, +0.78% rose 14 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $48.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
February Brent crude LCOH5, +0.50% on London’s ICE Futures exchange declined 19 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $50.96 a barrel. Brent has fallen in eight of the past 10 sessions, and Thursday’s finish was the lowest for the benchmark’s front-month contract since April,30 2009.
Elsewhere in metals trading, palladium for March PAH5, +0.25% delivery rose 65 cents to $793.10 an ounce, while April platinum PLJ5, +0.16% was $2.10 to $1,223 an ounce.
High-grade copper for March delivery HGH5, -0.22% added a penny, or 0.4%, to $2.77 a pound.
Gold rose from earlier lows Thursday and briefly turned positive after a slightly weaker-than-expected jobless-claims report, but still closed below its Wednesday afternoon level after a session of choppy trading as investors moved money into stocks.
Gold for February delivery GCG5, +0.26% slid $2.20, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,208.50 an ounce, while March silver SIH5, +0.03% fell 16 cents, or 1%, to $16.39 an ounce.