By Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SYDNEY(MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures extended gains in electronic trading Tuesday, as some relative optimism about Greece’s debt-situation and a softer dollar helped support prices.
Oil for July delivery CL1N +0.63% added 34 cents, or 0.4%, $93.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange during Asian trading hours.
Oil markets have been monitoring the euro-zone’s sovereign-debt situation and the implications the unfolding crisis have for global energy demand.
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Chung Yang, oil analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore, said crude prices were buoyed by the European finance ministers decision to delay providing more bailout funds to debt-stricken Greece.
“This is sort of a relief for global commodities markets, and [is supporting] crude prices,” he said.
“Tonight Greece will debate on confidence. If the confidence vote is passed to push through the budget cuts, there will be additional loans granted in July, and a default scenario is likely to be avoided. For the commodities market, it means demand could also be sustainable, and [it signals] the global recovery is on track,” he said.
Improving confidence about Greek debt resolution supported the euro against the dollar.
The dollar index DXY -0.13% , which measures the U.S. unit against a basket of six other rival currencies, fell to 74.91 for 75.056 late Monday.
On Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute releases its weekly inventory report, with analysts polled by Reuters forecasting a fall of 500,000 barrels for the week ending June 10.
The report comes as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said Monday it is investigating whether oil producers and refiners are doing anything to hamper competition in the production and refining of crude or petroleum products.
The FTC is assisting a separate investigation into illegal trading activity in the oil markets, launched by Attorney General Eric Holder in April. Read more about the FTC probe.
Virginia Harrison is a MarketWatch reporter based in Sydney.
