Crude oil prices dipped on Wednesday ahead of the latest US inventories data while gold found support from dollar weakness as investors in commodity markets awaited the outcome of the US Federal Reserve’s monthly meeting.
US interest rates will remain locked near zero for an extended period and the focus of the meeting will be to see if US policymakers issue a more upbeat assessment of the economy and provide any guidance on their exit strategy from quantitative easing and the other special measures taken to counter the financial crisis.
In energy markets, Nymex November West Texas Intermediate oil slipped 44 cents to $71.32 a barrel while ICE November Brent eased 53 cents to $70.00 a barrel.
US inventories data due out later in the session was expected to show US crude stocks fell for a fourth consecutive week with a drop of 1.5m barrels.
However, US demand remains soft and refineries were seen reducing activity with refinery utilisation expected to fall 0.7 percentage points to 86.2 per cent.
Gasoline stocks were forecast to increase 400,000 barrels, up for a third week in a row, while distillate stocks (including heating oil) were seen rising 1.5m barrels, up for a fifth week.
Nymex October RBOB unleaded gasoline traded less than 2 cents lower, down 1 per cent, at $1.7640 a gallon while Nymex October heating oil was fractionally higher at $1.8123 a gallon.
