Closing Commodities: Crude Rises 1.3% To Over $101/Barrel
* Aug gold rose for the first time in four sessions despite strength in the dollar index.
* The yellow metal came off its session low of $1295.80 per ounce set in early morning pit action and traded as high as $1304.20 per ounce. It settled at $1299.90 per ounce, booking a gain of 0.2%.
* Sep silver, on the other hand, spent its entire session in the red. It touched a session low of $20.63 per ounce in early morning action and eventually settled with a 0.6% loss at $20.77 per ounce.
* Aug crude oil traded higher on bullish inventory data released earlier today.
* The EIA reported that for the week ending July 11, inventories fell by 7.5 mln barrels when a smaller draw of 2.1-2.8 mln barrels was expected.
* The energy component advanced to a session high of $101.46 per barrel and eventually settled with a 1.3% gain at $101.18 per barrel.
* Aug natural gas also rose today, climbing as high as $4.15 per MMBtu in morning action. It settled 0.5% higher at $4.12 per MMBtu.