Crude oil futures are likely to witness a steady to firm start on the NYMEX floor trades today. Crude oil futures soared sharply in Asia today. The prices rolled up impressively in the middle of the last week as the equities edged higher and the US dollar weakened. The same combination seemed to be at play today in mid morning Asia trades as the risky assets continued to extend their good form off late amid a plethora of data from China over the weekend. Chinese Industrial growth in August increased to 13.9%, up from 13.4% in July. Retail sales of consumer goods added 18.4%, up 0.5% from the prior month. Fixed-asset investment in China's cities surged 24.8% year to date, slowing slightly from the 24.9% increase through July. US President Barack Obama commented upon the likely course of economic policy, stretching out plans to extend tax cuts for the middle class, increasing business tax write-offs, and additional $50 billion in spending on infrastructure projects. Cues from the world's leading economies pushed up the world stocks mostly higher today while the US dollar eased above 1.2800 levels against the Euro. Light, sweet crude oil futures steadied above $77 per barrel to top a one month high of $77.50 per barrel and currently trade at $77.12, up 67 cents from the previous close. MCX Crude oil futures for September closed at Rs 3550 per barrel in the last session and moved sharply up in the first few minutes only. Prices backtracked from a high of Rs 3600 per barrel and currently quote at Rs 3584, up Rs 34 or 0.96% on the day with 9.50% drop in the open interest.

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