Gold falls in Asia amid slack growth forecast

Following a loss during Wednesday’s U.S. session, gold futures continued to retreat during Thursday’s Asian session as traders mulled a tepid 2013 outlook for global economic growth from the World Bank.

Gold futures were likely to test support USD1,653.55 a troy ounce, Friday's low, and resistance at USD1,684.85, Tuesday's high.

On Wednesday, the World Bank trimmed its 2013 global growth outlook to 2.4% from a prior forecast of 3%. Not surprisingly, the World Bank forecast struggles for developed nations, which sent traders scurrying into safer assets such as the U.S. dollar.

As gold is denominated in U.S. dollars, the metal usually falls when dollars appreciated. Elsewhere, following speculation to this effect, Germany’s Bundesbank said it will repatriate 674 tons of gold from international financial centers such as New York and Paris.

Oil slides following tepid U.S. economic reports

Following a strong showing in Wednesday’s U.S. session, oil futures ebbed lower during Thursday’s Asian session as traders pondered another round of lukewarm U.S. economic data points.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for March delivery fell 0.17% to USD94.52 per barrel. During Wednesday’s U.S. session, crude jumped 0.83% to USD94.50 per barrel.

On Wednesday, U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report earlier that U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 951,000 barrels in the week ended Jan. 11. That stunned analysts that had been expecting an increase of 2.27 million barrels. Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 360.3 million barrels as of last week.

Natural gas prices fall as market talk points to soft inventory decline

Natural gas futures fell on Wednesday after expectations that supplies will fall less than expected later this week prompted a round of profit taking.