A host of supply and demand concerns in the U.S. and abroad, as well as the depreciating dollar, have pushed crude prices up more than 4 percent this week.
Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose 15 cents to $115.01 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Singapore.
On Thursday, the May contract hit a trading record of $115.54 a barrel in European trading hours as the dollar fell to a new low against the euro. Crude finished the floor session down 7 cents at $114.86 a barrel after falling back when the dollar strengthened.
"In general, a weak U.S. dollar ... has some valuation effect on oil prices and other commodities," said David Moore, a commodity strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.
Investors have been buying oil contracts as a hedge against the weakening dollar, betting that rising commodity prices will offset dollar declines.
Prices were supported by a U.S. Energy Department report on inventories, released Wednesday, that showed gasoline supplies fell 5.5 million barrels last week — much more than what analysts had expected.
That slide comes as the U.S. heads into its peak summer driving season, a period when demand and retail gasoline prices surge. The department's Energy Information Administration report also showed crude inventories fell 2.3 million barrels for the same period.
No comments:
Post a Comment