WSJ:OIL FUTURES: Crude Falls; Rangebound Trade Expected This Week
By Mari Iwata
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Crude-oil futures fell Monday in Asia, extending losses posted Friday in New York as market participants continued to digest rising borrowing costs in Spain and disappointing economic data from China.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in May traded at $102.16 a barrel at 0555 GMT, down $0.67 in the Globex electronic session. June Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $1.36 to $119.85 a barrel.
Crude-oil prices are likely to remain rangebound this week as market participants wait for cues from next week's meeting of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee, Market Strategy Institute analyst Koichiro Kamei said.
This week May Nymex crude is likely to trade in a range of $99.78-$105.97/bbl and June ICE Brent in a range of $112.57-$130.51/bbl, the Schork Group said in a note.
Nihon Unicom analyst Hiroyuki Kikukawa said he expects rangebound trade at least until a meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers scheduled for Thursday and Friday, which may result in further action on the euro-zone debt crisis.
"Multiyear highs in Saudi production, some slowing in China's economic growth path, mounting global commercial oil supply cover and weakening product demand across the OECD space all continue to lean in favor of lower prices," Jim Ritterbusch, president of oil trading advisory firm Ritterbusch & Associates, said in a note.
However, the downside for crude-oil futures is limited due to the Iran risk premium, Kamei and Kikukawa said.
Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for May--the benchmark gasoline contract--fell 284 points to $3.3177 a gallon, while May heating oil traded at $3.1483, 263 points lower.
ICE gasoil for May changed hands at $1002.25 a metric ton, down $6.25 from Friday's settlement.
-By Mari Iwata, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-6269-2798; mari.iwata@dowjones.com