The price of crude oil was ticking higher Friday morning, with traders focusing their attention toward the developments in Cyprus, where the lawmaker struggling to arrive at an alternative proposal after the bank levy plan failed to get the backing of the Parliament.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for May delivery, edged up $0.41 to $92.86 a barrel. Yesterday, oil settled lower on demand growth concerns after some soft private sector activity data from the eurozone and bailout aid package imbroglio in Cyprus. Investors ignored some largely upbeat macroeconomic data out of the U.S. and some positive manufacturing numbers from China.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was trading near a four-month high versus the euro, while lingering near a one-month low against sterling. The buck was hovering around its two-and- half year high versus the yen and trading flat against the Swiss franc.
In economic news from the euro zone, Germany's business confidence fell unexpectedly to 106.7 in March, which was the first fall in five months, reports said citing a survey from the Ifo Institute. Economists were expecting the index to rise to 107.8 from a 10-month high of 107.4 in February. The expectations index declined to 103.6 from 104.6 in February. It was forecast to rise to 105. Similarly, the assessment of current conditions fell to 109.9 from 110.2 a month ago, when it was expected to improve to 110.5.
