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Commodities: Oil above $80

Date: Thursday 28 Jun 2012

Commodities: Oil above $80

Crude oil futures rose back above $80 a barrel on Wednesday in US trading after a weekly government report revealed a decline in inventories.

Crude for August delivery rose 85 cents to settle at $80.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

On the ICE futures exchange Brent crude gained 46 cents to $93.48 a barrel.

The Energy Information Administration said crude supplies fell 100,000 barrels for the week ended June 22. The drop was less than expected with analysts pencilling in a decline of around 1m but nevertheless traders cheered signs of increased demand for cude.

It also contradicted Tuesday's report by the American Petroleum Institute, which said crude oil stockpiles climbed by just over 500,000 barrels in the same week.

The EIA report showed gasoline inventories rose 2.1m barrels during the week, more than forecasts of an increase of 300,000 barrels. Meanwhile distillates fell 2.3m barrels confounding expectations that distillates would rise by 1m barrels.

Crude also tracked US stocks higher, which were boosted by upbeat house sale data. Pending home sales for June grew 5.9% month-on-month, way ahead of the 1% expected by economists.

Among precious metals registered mild gains on Wednesday ahead of the EU summit and on hopes that the ECB will cut rates.

Gold for August delivery rose $3.50 to settle at $1,578.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.




CJ

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