Gold futures snapped a three-day losing streak on Tuesday on reports of increased demand in Asia.

Gold for February delivery advanced $15.90 an ounce to settle at $1,662.20 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Physical demand for gold traditionally picks ahead in the weeks running up to the Chinese New Year celebrations.

Silver for March added 38 cents to $30.47 an ounce while March palladium fell $2.15 to $667.85 an ounce.

Crude oil futures settled almost flat on Tuesday as traders took a breather ahead of weekly supplies data.

Oil for February delivery declined 4 cents to settle at $93.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It traded between $92.67 and $93.80.

The Energy Information Administration will publish its weekly oil inventories report on Wednesday and analysts expect crude supplies to have risen by 2.2m barrels. Last week crude stockpiles fell over 11m barrels.

Gasoline supplies are expected to increase by 2.6m barrels while distillates are forecast to increase 1.5m barrels.

The EIA published its monthly short-term energy outlook on Tuesday. The report said US oil demand fell 1.6% to a 15-year low last year and is predicted to rise by just 0.3% in 2013 and 2014.

Meanwhile investors mulled reports of the completion of the expansion of the Seaway Pipeline project by the end of this week. The expansion should reduce the glut of oil inventories at the Nymex crude-contract delivery point in Cushing, Oklahoma.

On the ICE futures exchange Brent crude rose 63 cents at $112.03 a barrel.


CJ

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