Commodities: Oil swings higher ahead of inventory data
Wed 17 Oct 2012
LONDON (SHARECAST) - Oil prices swung to a one-week high on Tuesday ahead of oil inventory data and on hopes that Spain is moving closer to asking of a bailout.
Crude oil for November delivery climbed 24 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $92.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
On the ICE futures exchange, brent crude oil for November fell 73 cents to close at $115.07 a barrel.
Markets are expecting weekly US oil inventory data to show rising surplus of crude oil stocks and a decline in stocks of gasoline and heating oil.
After the close on Tuesday the American Petroleum Institute said crude oil supplies for the week ended October 12th rose 3.7m barrels. Gasoline inventories fell by 1.2m barrels last week while supplies of distillate rose 1.8m barrels.
The API also boosted its supply figures from last week by 1m barrels.
While demand worries persist, recently encouraging data from China, the US and the Eurozone have lifted market sentiment. Hopes that Spain is poised to ask for a bailout encouraged buying activity.
Among precious metals gold climbed 0.5% following its two-day losing streak, as the dollar weakened against major currencies following reports that Spain is moving closer to a bailout.
Gold for December delivery advanced $8.70 to settle at $1,746.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
January platinum futures rose $12.90 to $1,645.20 an ounce and palladium for December added $6.35 to $638.95 an ounce.
LONDON (SHARECAST) - Oil prices swung to a one-week high on Tuesday ahead of oil inventory data and on hopes that Spain is moving closer to asking of a bailout.
