By Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Benchmark Nymex crude-oil futures edged lower in electronic trading as the dollar strengthened during midday Wednesday trading in Asia, ahead of a closely watched U.S. inventory report.
Crude for July delivery CLN11 -0.17% lost 73 cents, or 0.7%, to $98.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Oil closed out the North American session nearly 2% higher, after Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley upgraded their forecast for crude prices and the dollar softened.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration is slated to deliver its weekly inventory report of oil, gasoline and other energy products.
Last week crude-inventories were unchanged, due to lower oil imports and more refining. Stockpiles have fallen just four times this year, according to the U.S. government report.
Despite recent prices moves, analysts at Barclays Capital said the balance of risk for crude remains “heavily biased to the upside.”
“We have seen nothing over the past few weeks that makes us wish to tone down our current constructive view on oil on a fundamental basis,” the analysts said.
“We see current prices as a solid floor, and while short-term downside risk emanating from external events like sovereign-debt crises cannot be ruled out, the highs for the year are not in yet,” the Barclays analysts said.
The dollar improved in Asian trading hours Wednesday.
The dollar index DXY +0.29% , which measures the greenback against a basket of six rival currencies, traded at 76.112, up from 75.949 in late North American trading on Tuesday. Read more on currencies.
