BW:Oil Rises on Equities, Potential Stimulus; Stockpiles May Swell
Crude rose for the first time in three days, buoyed by speculation that Japan may pursue more aggressive monetary easing, potentially buoying fuel demand.
Futures gained as much as 0.7 percent as the S&P GSCI Index of commodities advanced for the first time in three days. Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said he is willing to dissolve parliament on Nov. 16, pushing the yen lower as investors speculated that the central bank would add stimulus to revive the economy. U.S. inventories probably climbed last week to the highest in more than three months, according to a Bloomberg survey before a government report tomorrow. U.S. equity futures rose.
“It looks like it’s stock-market related,” Ole Hansen, the head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank A/S in Copenhagen, said by telephone. “There’s a feeling creeping in that the worst is over for equities.”
Crude for December delivery climbed to a high of $86 a barrel and was at $85.63 a barrel, up 25 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, at 11:09 a.m. London time. The contract declined 19 cents to $85.38 yesterday, the lowest close since Nov. 8. Prices lost 13 percent this year.
Brent oil for December settlement, which expires tomorrow, was up 38 cents at $108.64 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The more actively traded January contract gained 42 cents to $107.76. The European benchmark crude was at a premium of $23.08 to New York futures. The spread narrowed yesterday for the first time in three days to $22.88.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nidaa Bakhsh in London at nbakhsh@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at sev@bloomberg.net