By V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures bounced higher in electronic trading Thursday after a three-day losing streak, as optimism over the U.S. “fiscal cliff” talks improved investor risk appetite.
U.S. benchmark January crude-oil futures CLF3 +0.28% had climbed 38 cents, or 0.4%, to $86.87 a barrel by mid-afternoon in East Asia.
Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the front-month contract had settled 69 cents lower at $86.49, after having touched a session low of $85.36 earlier.
The rebound in oil prices tracked a general improvement in investor sentiment after President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner expressed hope about a deal to avert the automatic kick-in of tax increases and spending cuts from January that could potentially drag down the U.S. economy.
During the Asian trading day Thursday, most regional stock markets traded higher, and U.S. equity futures advanced, pointing to a likely higher opening on Wall Street. Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA +0.83% futures climbed 41 points, or 0.3%, to 12,998, after the index staged a triple-digit rally Wednesday.
Among other energy products, January futures for gasoline RBF3 +0.27% and heating oil HOF3 +0.16% climbed 0.3% to $2.70 a gallon, and 0.2% to $3.03 a gallon, respectively.
Natural-gas futures for delivery in the same month NGF13 -0.47% fell 0.3% to $3.79 per million British thermal units.
Varahabhotla Phani Kumar is a reporter in MarketWatch's Hong Kong bureau. Follow him on Twitter @MktwKumar.
