By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) — Oil futures inched lower in volatile action on Thursday, cautiously extending the prior day’s sharp selloff, with all eyes resting on global central bank decision.
Crude-oil futures for May delivery CLK3 -0.02% shed 4 cents to $94.41 a barrel.
The contract settled with a $2.74 loss at $94.45 a barrel on Wednesday, hurt by a bigger-than-expected increase in last week’s U.S. crude supplies and a slowdown in private-payrolls growth.
Oil investors on Thursday were tracking monetary-policy decisions from major economies, starting with the Bank of Japan pledging to achieve a 2% inflation target in about two years. Additionally, the central bank announced plans to increase government bond purchases at an annual pace of 50 trillion yen ($530 billion).
The move sent the yen sharply lower, helping lift the ICE dollar index DXY +0.64% to 83.36 from 82.712 seen in late Wednesday in North America.
The strength in the dollar added pressure on crude futures, as a firmer greenback tends to add pressure on dollar-denominated commodities.
At 7:45 a.m. Eastern, the European Central Bank grabs attention, when it releases its latest monetary-policy decision. The central bank is widely expected to keep rates unchanged, although analysts say the possibility of a rate cut has risen after recent downbeat data.
The Bank of England announces its decision at 7 a.m. Eastern.
Elsewhere in the energy complex, gasoline for May delivery RBK3 -0.74% dropped 0.8% to $2.89 a gallon, while heating oil for the same month HOK3 -0.02% was unchanged at $3 a gallon.
May natural gas NGK13 +0.36% put on 0.1% to $3.90 per million British thermal units.
Sara Sjolin is a MarketWatch reporter based in London. Follow her on Twitter @sarasjolin.
