Oil prices were heading on Friday, November 6 for their biggest weekly decline since April, while gold was set for its biggest weekly gain since August, as commodity markets closed out a week reshaped by the Democratic sweep of the US midterm elections and hopes of an end to the months-long war in the Middle East, Bloomberg reported via Moneycontrol.

Source: Bloomberg via Moneycontrol/TradingView

Friday's weekly reckoning follows the plunge this desk reported on Wednesday, when Brent crude crashed below $100 a barrel as Democrats won Congress and hopes rose of an early end to the Iran war. Read: Oil plunges as Trump-Iran peace hopes grow

West Texas Intermediate rose to trade near $91 a barrel on Friday, extending a rebound from the sharp selloff that followed the midterm results, but prices are still down more than 12 percent this week, Bloomberg said. On Thursday, Brent crude had fallen 97 cents, or 1.03 percent, to $93.65 a barrel and WTI dropped $1.14, or 1.29 percent, to $86.98, after both benchmarks tumbled more than 8 percent in the previous session to their lowest since August 31, Reuters reported.

Source: Bloomberg via Moneycontrol / Reuters

-12%+WTI crude's fall this week despite Friday's rebound to near $91 — biggest weekly decline since April
$93.65Brent crude on Thursday, down 1.03% (Reuters); it had fallen below $100 for the first time since early October
~$4,090Gold per ounce Friday — on track for a weekly gain of more than 5%, its best week since August
$51.99Silver per ounce Friday, up 0.4% (Bloomberg)

Gold's best week since August

Bullion traded around $4,090 an ounce on Friday, on track for a weekly advance of more than 5 percent, as a weaker dollar and lower US Treasury yields boosted demand for the precious metal after the midterm elections, Bloomberg reported. Spot gold had risen 1.6 percent to $4,123.71 an ounce on Thursday, its highest since October 20, according to Reuters figures reported by The Hindu BusinessLine, with US gold futures at $4,133.

Source: Bloomberg via Moneycontrol / Reuters

Gold's weekly surge builds on the two-week high this desk reported on Thursday, when bullion touched $4,134 as the dollar and yields fell. Read: Gold hits two-week high as dollar, yields fall

Why oil kept falling: a market back in surplus

JPMorgan said the global oil market is back in surplus, with supply exceeding demand by 1.1 million barrels per day in September and 1.4 million in October, against an average surplus of 1.3 million last year, Reuters reported. Traders are weighing whether a Democratic-controlled Congress will press for an early end to the Iran war — the conflict that pushed Brent above $115 last week — even as Iran reported more tankers damaged in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday.

Source: Reuters

Silver was 0.4 percent higher at $51.99 an ounce on Friday, while platinum and palladium edged lower, Bloomberg said. Citi has a 0-to-3-month gold target of $4,500, according to Reuters reporting.

Source: Bloomberg via Moneycontrol / Reuters

What happens next: Friday's US payrolls report is the next test for the dollar, yields and gold, while oil traders watch the Qatar-mediated talks between Washington and Tehran and shipping through Hormuz. For Punjabi and Indian households — in Punjab, where gold buying is a Diwali-season staple, and in the Gulf and Canada, where fuel prices feed directly into truckers' and families' costs — a week in which oil falls 12 percent and gold rises 5 percent pulls household budgets in opposite directions at once.