By Kristene Quan, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Benchmark U.S. crude-oil futures saw little change in electronic trading Thursday, matching steady action from Wednesday, with a slightly higher dollar helping to limit gains.
Crude for November delivery CLX2 -0.14% fell fractionally, dropping 2 cents to $92.10 a barrel during East Asia trading hours.
Oil futures had likewise held steady Wednesday, trading at $92.12 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange for a gain of 3 cents, as a jump in U.S. housing starts offset a surprisingly large rise in crude-oil inventories. Read: Oil holds at $92 as supply rises, dollar falls.
“Investors seemed very reluctant to increase their bullish positions in crude oil, even as the euro rallied (and dollar fell) on the back of Moody’s decision to keep Spain’s ratings unchanged a notch above junk status,” GFT Markets analyst Fawad Razaqzada wrote in note to clients.
“Adding to the dullness, there was no fresh news regarding Iran vs. the West or Turkey vs. Syria to spook investors further about supply of oil,” he said.
The ICE dollar index DXY +0.07% [s: NYE:DXY], which measures the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, rose to 79.147, up from 79.022 in late North American trade Wednesday, helping cap gains.
The U.S. currency tends to move inversely to dollar-denominated crude, as a stronger greenback makes oil more expensive for holders of other currencies.
Elsewhere in the energy complex, heating-oil for November delivery HOX2 +0.18% added 0.2% to $3.18 a gallon, and gasoline for delivery in the same month RBX2 +0.01% was flat at $2.76 a gallon.
Natural-gas futures for November delivery NGX12 -0.03% rose 0.4% at 3.49 per million British thermal units.
Kristene Quan is a MarketWatch reporter, based in Hong Kong.
