Kuwait's foreign ministry said Kuwait's foreign minister spoke by phone on Thursday with Oman's foreign minister to discuss recent regional developments and diplomatic efforts to bolster regional security and ensure safety and freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

Gold fell more than 1% on Thursday after a firm US PPI print and rising oil prices boosted bets on a Fed rate hike next week. Capital.com senior analyst Kyle Rodda said August PPI signaled a pickup in underlying inflation partly driven by higher energy costs; headline PPI was broadly in line with forecasts but energy rebounded. CME FedWatch now prices a roughly 70% chance of a hike next week, up from 62% before the data. A Reuters survey of economists still shows most expect the Fed to hold rates at the Sept. 15-16 meeting and for the rest of the year. A stronger dollar and a rise in the 10-year US Treasury yield further pressured dollar-priced gold. Rodda added that higher bond yields reflect more persistent inflation pressure from oil, increasing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets and weighing on gold.

U.S. EIA heating oil stocks for the week to Sept. 4: +10,000 barrels; prior -33,000 barrels.