By Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch
TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures climbed more than 2% in electronic trading on Globex Monday afternoon in Asia, rebounding on the heels of a European plan to prevent the Greek debt crisis from spreading.
Crude for June delivery, the most active contract, climbed $1.75, or 2.3%, to $76.86 a barrel on Globex after tapping an intraday high of $76.91 in electronic trading.
June crude on Friday lost $2, or 2.6%, to settle at $75.11 in New York. That's its lowest price since mid-February, when prices dropped to a little above $74 a barrel, according to FactSet Research. The contract tallied a 13% loss for the week. See Friday's Futures Movers.
On Monday, Robert "Tony" Nunan, an assistant general manager at Mitsubishi Corp. in Tokyo, said it's difficult to say whether oil prices fell too far on Friday.
Still, he said prices "fell enough to shake out much of the weak length," with the "very positive" U.S. non-farm payroll report overshadowed by the situation in Greece.
"Now that the [European Union] is taking a much more serious stance towards this crisis, I think the market will stabilize and refocus on the positive economic data coming out" of the U.S., he said.
Looking ahead, oil-market stability may be helped by the monthly oil-market reports by the major oil agencies, with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries publishing on Tuesday, followed by the International Energy Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday, analysts at Credit Suisse said in a research note issued Monday.
"After the price drops, the contango in the oil market is now fairly steep, limiting the sector's attractiveness for financial investors," the Credit Suisse analysts said.
Contango refers to the premium paid for further-out oil contracts. That premium climbed Friday when crude for July delivery settled at $78.51, $3.40 above the June contract.
"Given the current market environment, we are very cautious regarding the prospects for a recovery in the coming days and weeks," analysts at Credit Suisse said.
