By MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures rose on Monday after ending lower for four consecutive sessions, but were seen as under pressure as inventories are likely on the rise.
Crude oil for October delivery added 72 cents, or 1%, to $74.42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after wavering between gains and losses earlier. The contract fell 91 cents to end at $73.66 on Friday.
Weekly inventory data and the government’s count of new claims for jobless benefits come later in the week.
Enbridge Energy Partners LP on Friday reopened its once-leaky pipeline in Illinois and Hurricane Karl spared Mexico’s oil production over the weekend, signaling more inventories are likely to increase this week.
“This prospect should put pressure on the price of oil and push it back towards $70. A sharper slump in prices is being prevented by investment demand,” analysts at Commerzbank said in a note Monday.
Crude-oil supplies have decreased in the past two weeks.
Crude finished last week lower by 3.6% at $73.66, its biggest one-week drop in five weeks.
The commodity had opened the week on an upbeat note, climbing to $78 a barrel on news that Enbridge had shut a line that carries nearly a third of Canadian crude to the U.S.
Oil has underperformed other commodities -- gold hit a record high and silver a 30-year high last week, to name a few -- and that poorer performance “does not bode well for its prospects going forward,” analysts at MG Global said in a research report Monday.
Investors “may see a sharp break lower sometime in mid-October when the hurricane season starts to wind down. In addition, crude oil inventories remain quite comfortable, and by not declining, underline just how poor the fundamentals are despite a global economic recovery that remains mostly on track,” they added.
Other energy futures were mixed, with gasoline rising alongside crude but natural gas on negative territory.
Reformulated gasoline for October delivery rose 2 cents, or 1.2%, to $1.94 a gallon.
October natural gas declined 16 cents, or 4%, to $3.87 per million British thermal units. A close around these levels would be natural gas’ lowest since Sept. 10.
