WSJ:OIL FUTURES: Crude Rises, Led By Gains In Asian Shares
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Crude-oil futures pared some of the week's losses Wednesday in Asia, as crude traders took cues from the day's gains in Asian shares.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in October traded at $86.76 a barrel at 0708 GMT, up $0.74 in the Globex electronic session. October Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose $0.45 to $113.34 a barrel.
On Wednesday, Asian shares staged a broad recovery prompted by strong Australian economic data and market talk that China might relax its tight monetary policy. Crude prices have closely followed share prices in recent months, with many traders regarding equities as a better indicator of the economic outlook than fundamentals.
The next major data point will be U.S. weekly oil data from the Energy Information Administration, while President Obama's speech about economy will also be closely watched. Both are due Thursday in U.S..
"Until then, there are few factors to look to besides share prices to get some idea on the market," said Koichi Murakami, analyst with Daiichi Shohin, Tokyo-based broker.
Longer term, growth in emerging economies is expected to support commodity prices, including crude.
"Growth has slowed even in these emerging countries, but they are still growing," said Tomomichi Akuta, an analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Research & Consulting.
Nymex crude prices will "gradually progress toward $91.50/bbl" after staying mostly between $80 and $90 for the past month, MF Global analyst Tom Pawlicki said in a note to investors.
Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for October--the benchmark gasoline contract--rose 112 points to $2.8338 a gallon, while October heating oil traded at $3.0251, 149 points higher.
ICE gasoil for September changed hands at $952.00 a metric ton, up $12.75 from Tuesday's settlement.
By Mari Iwata, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-6269-2798; mari.iwata@dowjones.com
