Oil prices rebound; gold firms

Oil prices rebounded and gold firmed this week as markets reacted to geopolitical concerns and the outlook for interest rates in the United States.
A strong dollar meanwhile capped gains for certain commodities priced in the US unit and caused others to drop week-on-week.
The dollar has fought back against the euro in recent weeks as markets bet on rises to US interest rates later this year despite a clouded outlook. This has made dollar- denominated raw materials like oil and gold more expensive for holders of rival currencies, denting demand.
Minutes of the US central bank's last policy meeting showed a split over when interest rates should again start rising in the world's biggest economy.

Minutes from the March meeting published earlier this week showed that "several (Fed) participants" thought conditions were right for a June hike in the federal funds rate, which has been stuck near zero since late 2008.
Others deemed the economy would not be able to weather a hike until later in the year, while "a couple" said liftoff would remain unlikely until 2016.

While last week's US jobs data "was a big disappointment, the minutes from the Fed's last meeting suggests that they remain in hiking mode and may hike rates at some point this year, even if June now seems like a long shot", said Forex.Com analyst Kathleen Brooks.

OIL: Crude prices rose, supported by concerns over Iran's nuclear deal that helped to offset worries about a US supply glut according to analysts.
"Geopolitical factors remain a constant worry for investors with concerns regarding Iran's nuclear programme potentially leading to ongoing volatility in the crude oil market," said Kash Kamal, senior research analyst at Sucden brokerage.
Analysts attributed steep gains at the start of the week to investors concluding that the nuclear framework agreed between Iran and international powers will have a minimal near-term effect on global crude supplies.
The deal Tehran agreed with the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia plus Germany paves the way for the Islamic republic to curtail its nuclear activity in exchange for relief from punishing economic sanctions, including on oil investment.

In volatile trading, oil prices sank on Wednesday after the US Department of Energy said commercial inventories in the world's biggest economy hit a record high last week.