By Laura Mandaro, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures got back some strength Thursday ahead of government inventories data, with the commodity supported by a weaker dollar and a trade group’s report of a surprise inventories decline.
Crude for November delivery rose 66 cents to $83.67 a barrel (CLX10 83.67, +0.66, +0.80%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It had climbed as high as $84.12 earlier and then turned lower.
“A U.S. dollar under selling pressure and a surprisingly sharp decline in U.S. crude oil inventories of 4 million barrels last week reported by the API are supporting prices,” said analysts at Commerzbank.
The dollar hit new lows against several currencies, including a 15-year-low versus the Japanese yen, after Singapore’s central bank surprised markets by expanding the trading band for the Singapore dollar, effectively tightening monetary policy. The dollar index (DXY 76.52, -0.55, -0.72%) fell to 76.513 from 77.061 late Wednesday.
Late Wednesday, the American Petroleum Institute reported an unexpected decline in crude-oil inventories by 4 million barrels.
Later in the session, the Energy Department releases weekly inventories reports on oil. The report has been delayed by a day due to Monday’s Columbus Day holiday.
Analysts polled by Platts expect an increase of 1.5 million barrels to crude inventories, a decrease of 1.5 million barrels for gasoline, and a 1.5 million barrel decline for distillates.
Separate U.S. economic reports showed an unexpected rise in jobless claims in the latest week and producer prices rising a bigger-than-expected 0.4% in September.
Natural gas pares loss
Natural gas for November delivery (NGX10 3.71, +0.01, +0.38%) traded flat at $3.69 per million British thermal units. It had lost 7 cents ahead of the inventories report.
The EIA said natural gas in storage rose 91 billion cubic feet. Analysts polled by Platts expected the EIA to report a net injection of 89 to 93 billion cubic feet in natural gas in its weekly storage data, also out Thursday.
In corporate industry developments, Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY 85.39, +1.10, +1.31%) Chief Executive Officer Ray Irani plans to give up his CEO title next year and then retire at the end of 2014, the oil and gas producer said Thursday.
