Crude post modest gains, following day of see-saw-OIL
Crude futures were relatively flat on Trhursday on a day of see-saw, Choppy trading, as a sell off among industrial stocks failed to offset gains from an inventory draw las week at the Cushing Oil Hub in Oktolahoma.
Onthe new York Mercantile Exchange. WTI crude for November delivery traded in a broad range between $45.15 a barrel before setting at $44.98, up 0.50 or 1.13% on the session. Texas Long Sweet futures rallied considerably after touching down below $44 a barrel for the time in more than a week.
Thursday's session marked the first time that WTI crude futures did not close more than 1.20% in a positive or negative direction from its previous closing level in the last six trading days. Over a volatile month of trading, U.S. Crude futures are up more than 13% from their late-Agust levels when they neared sis and a half year lows.
On the intercontinental Exchange (ICE), brent crude for November delivery wavered between $47.41 and $48.45 a barrel before closing at $48.30, Up 0.54 or 1.11% on the session. The spread between the international and U.S. benchmarks of crude stood at 3.46, above wednesday's level of 3.26 at the close of trading.
Crude future surged higher on Thursday after Genscape, Inc, a leading provider of energy information for global commodity markets, said crude inventories at Cushing, fell by 625,000 barrels for the week ending on Sept. 22. It followed the U.S. Energy information Administration's (EIA) report of a draw of 1.9 million barrels in crude stockpiles for the week ending sept. 18, extending a decline of 2.1 million from the previous week. The Cushing Oil Hub is the main delivery point of NYMEX Oil.
Crude pared earlier gains a fter a host of industrial stocks moved lower on the S&P 500 Composite index, following the release of disappointing durable goods orders last month. On Thursday morning , the U.S. Departement of commerce said new orders for manufactured durable goods in August decreased $4.8 billion or 2.0% to $236.3 billion. Following two months of increases, analysts expected durable good orders to fall by 2% last month. The reading underscores continuing fears of slowing global economic growth.
Investors await the release of friday's U.S. Weekly rig count for further indications on the supply-demand balance in domestic energy markets. Last week, oil services firm baker hughes (NYSE:SHI) said U.S. Oil rigs for the week ending on sept. 11, fell by eidht to 644, move lower for the third straight week.
Crude futures are down than 40% since OPEC roiled global markets last November with a strategic decision to keep its production ceiling above 30 million barrels per day. energy markets with a glut of oversupply.
The U.S Dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenbac versus a basket of six other major currencies, fell more than 0.5% to an intraday low of 95.58. On wednesday, the index surged above 96.70, reaching its highest level in more than a month.
Dollar-denominated commodities such crude become more expensive for foregn purchasers when the dollar apprecieates.
