6:30AM European stocks are trading lower Thursday on oil price rise.
European markets were lower by mid-morning on Thursday. The FTSE 100 in London shed 0.1% to 5,923.8, the Xetra Dax in Frankfurt edged down 0.1% to 5,863.62, and the CAC-40 in Paris sank 0.2% to trade at 5,170.74. On the corporate front, Thales, defence electronics group, gained 1.7% after Safran, aero engine maker, denied speculation it was interested in Zodiac, which Thales had also been linked with. Safran added 0.2%.

L’Oreal, cosmetics group, advanced 3.55 after it topped expectations with a 19.6% rise in first half operating profits, while KBC, banking and insurance group, plunged 5.2% despite a 48% jump in second quarter net earnings. Altadis, tobacco group, fell 1.4% after first half core earnings fell 1%, hit by tax hikes, an anti-tobacco law and a price war in its domestic market.

Oil prices advanced Thursday on concerns about possible supply disruptions as a U.N. deadline on Iran''s nuclear program arrived.
Light sweet crude for October delivery increased 37 cents to $70.40 a barrel on the NYME. Brent crude on London''s ICE futures exchange rose 42 cents to $70.60 a barrel.

Gold opened Thursday at a bid price of $619.40 a troy ounce, up from $617.60 late Wednesday. The euro was at $1.2852 at 10:10 a.m. in London, from $1.2833 late yesterday in New York. The British pound was also at $1.9067 versus the dollar from $1.9025. The U.S. dollar rose to 117.45 yen, the highest since July 19, before slipping back to 117.22 yen, up from 117.13 yen on Wednesday in New York.

5:00AM Gold and silver futures advanced Wednesday, while copper fell.
Gold for December delivery advanced $7 at $626.10 a troy ounce on the NYME, while December silver gained 34.8 cents to $12.67 an ounce. October platinum added $10 to $1,237.50 an ounce and December palladium rose $2.40 to $345.30 an ounce. The top-traded December copper contract settled down 3.15 cents at $3.3525 per pound.

October crude oil gained 32 cents at $70.03 a barrel. September gasoline advanced 1.27 cents to $1.8019 a gallon and September heating oil rose 0.64 cent to $1.9496 a gallon. September natural gas was off 58.6 cents at $6.290 a million British thermal units. On the New York Board of Trade, September Arabica coffee futures ended up 0.05 cent at $1.0335 a pound. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for October finished down 0.36 cent at 11.52 cents a pound.