LONDON (Reuters) – Oil was steady at around $113.80 a barrel on Thursday as geopolitical tensions kept a floor under prices, following a European Union agreement to stop importing Iranian crude, but a stronger dollar capped gains.

Brent crude futures were up 10 cents to $113.80 at 1420 GMT, giving up earlier gains as the dollar strengthened.

LONDON, Jan 5 (Reuters) – Oil edged lower to around
$113.40 a barrel on Thursday as a stronger dollar offset fears
of supply disruptions to Iranian crude should a European Union
agreement to cut off oil imports from the No. 2 OPEC producer
come into force.

Brent crude futures were off 37 cents to $113.33 at
1018 GMT, giving up earlier gains as the dollar strengthened.

LONDON, Dec 21 (Reuters) – New Year rallies have
become so commonplace for commodities that fund managers have
almost come to expect them.

Not this year.

Commodities indexes, metals and many other raw materials
have seen big losses in 2011 and many investors say the prospect
of another year of slack global growth is likely to keep them in
cash and other safe havens for some time to come.

SINGAPORE, Dec 16 (Reuters) – Oil prices were up near
$104 on Friday, consolidating after a heavy sell off earlier in
the week, supported by a weaker dollar and concern over U.S.
sanctions against Iran, but the eurozone debt crisis continued
to weigh.

Brent crude, which rolled over to February as the
prompt month, was up 53 cents to $104.13 a barrel by 0924 GMT.
U.S. crude rose 17 cents to $94.04 a barrel, after
falling $1.08 to settle at $93.87 on Thursday.

LONDON, Dec 15 (Reuters) – Economically sensitive
commodities such as energy and copper may fall by less in 2012
than the consensus view as large-scale monetary easing and tight
inventories lend support, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on
Thursday.

“Quantitative easing will lend a strong hand next year,”
said Sabine Schels, head of fundamental commodity research,
speaking at the bank’s year-ahead briefing in London. “We see
cyclical commodity prices falling only modestly.”

LONDON (Reuters) – Investors’ dash for cash has overwhelmed gold’s traditional status as a haven from risk, putting the metal on course for its first quarterly fall since end-September 2008, when the global credit crunch was at its worst.

Investors said gold could continue its slide through to the end of 2011 as they liquidate positions in a scramble for dollars at the end of a difficult year, with the euro zone debt crisis causing money markets to seize up.

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil fell $4 on Wednesday amid a deepening euro zone crisis, failed expectations of a new stimulus for the U.S. economy and concerns that oil producing group OPEC may struggle to quickly cut production after formally agreeing a high output ceiling.

Oil together with other commodities suffered from a stronger dollar .DXY as investors diverted money into the greenback to avert risk while the Reuters-Jefferies commodities index .CBR was down by over 2 percent, the lowest since early October and the sharpest drop since mid-November.