FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - Despite holding steady near $75.00 for a good part of the day, crude oil has been able to steadily climb in recent hours as an improved market sentiment as well as weak US dollar support prices higher. Within the first hour of trading in New York, the crude contract for November delivery prices in at $76.18 a barrel where it posts a gain of more than $1.00.
A high aversion to risk over Asia quickly turned around following robust data coming from Germany. In particular, the IFO survey showed a stronger-than-expected business climate in the eurozone’s largest economy as well as an improvement in the current assessment. The upbeat report helps to overshadow any concerns of a slowdown over the continent as well as sovereign debt concerns.
Further supporting crude oil, the US dollar has been embattled throughout the day despite a rumored BoJ intervention which gave it a brief boost at around 4:00 GMT. Speculation concerning the measures quickly spread as the MoF failed to confirm, and the greenback quickly resumed its move to the downside making dollar-denominated commodities like crude less expensive to import.
