BLBG:Oil Trades Near One-Week High as Economic Outlook Counters Supply Concern Q
Oil traded near the highest level in more than a week as optimism over European debt-crisis talks and U.S. consumer confidence countered speculation that rising crude supplies will curb prices.
Futures were little changed after falling as much as 1 percent. Euro-area finance ministers meet in Brussels today to discuss how to boost the European Financial Stability Facility. U.S. reports may show consumer confidence rose from a two-year low, while oil inventories increased for the first time in a month, according to surveys by Bloomberg News. Venezuela’s Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said OPEC should maintain production quotas when it meets next month.
“We’ve had more positioning in oil recently with the speculators coming in on the long side,” said Michael McCarthy, a chief market strategist at CMC Markets Asia Pacific Pty. in Sydney who sees technical resistance for New York crude at $102. “If we get an announcement tonight from the finance ministers that they’ve come to an agreement on the European stability fund we could see a test of that level.”
Crude for January delivery was at $98.08 a barrel, down 13 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile at 5:56 p.m. Sydney time. The contract rallied as much as 4.1 percent to $100.74 yesterday before closing at $98.21, the highest since Nov. 17. Prices are up 14 percent from a year ago.
Brent oil for January settlement gained 39 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $109.39 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark contract’s premium to West Texas Intermediate was at $11.31, compared with $10.79 yesterday and a record $27.88 on Oct. 14.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at bsharples@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski in Singapore at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net
