Prices turn higher in holiday abbreviated session
By Claudia Assis and Kristene Quan, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures turned higher on Friday, as the dollar weakened, boosting oil and other dollar-denominated commodities.
Crude oil for January delivery CLF3 +1.02% gained 31 cents, or 0.4%, to $87.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Most commodity markets will close an hour earlier than usual on Friday. Oil settled 63 cents higher on Wednesday at $87.38 a barrel. Nymex floor trading was closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday.
“Traders are just waiting for the next big stimulus to push oil prices in one clear direction, but may not get that stimulus until next week,” said GFT technical analyst Fawad Razaqzada.
The ICE dollar index DXY -0.52% , which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell to 80.537, compared with 80.704 during thin trading on Thursday. Read: Dollar weakens as appetite for equities grows.
A weaker U.S. dollar helps oil and other commodities priced in dollars by making them less expensive to holders of other currencies, broadening their investment appeal.
Prices earlier on Friday traded lower as a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas held and eased some supply concerns that had moved prices higher in recent sessions.
In other energy trading on Friday, heating-oil futures for December delivery HOZ2 +0.42% fell 1 cent, or 0.1%, to $3.07 a gallon, and December gasoline RBZ2 +0.15% dropped a penny, or 0.3%, to $2.74 a gallon.
Natural-gas futures for December delivery NGZ12 +0.05% fell 1 cent, or 0.3%, to $3.89 per million British thermal units.
