(RTTNews) - The price of crude oil was hovering near its three-month high Friday morning, with possible tensions in Middle-East supporting prices.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for September delivery, eased $0.48 to $95.12 a barrel. Yesterday, oil extended its three-month high to settle above $95 on supply concerns with tension brewing in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia advised its citizens to get out of Lebanon and Israel indicating its willingness to strike Iran's nuclear facilities. Oil prices were also supported by a dollar that traded lower against most major currencies.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was hovering around its two-week high versus the euro and ticking higher against sterling. The buck advanced to a 5-week high versus the yen, while continuing to ease against the Swiss franc.
In economic news, euro zone's foreign trade surplus increased in June, the latest figures published by Eurostat showed. The trade surplus rose to EUR 14.9 billion in June from EUR 7.1 billion in May. A year ago, the balance was in a surplus of EUR 0.2 billion.
Earlier today, data from the Federal Statistics Office revealed German producer price inflation eased to 0.9 percent in July from 1.6 percent in June. Economists expected the rate to eased to 1.2 percent. A year ago, the rate of inflation was 2.1 percent.
From the U.S., the preliminary report on consumer sentiment survey for August by Reuters and the University of Michigan is scheduled to be released at 9.55 am ET. The consumer sentiment index is expected to have edged down to 72 from 72.3 in the previous month.
