SINGAPORE, Dec 2 — Oil slipped today as traders focused on rising US crude inventories following a rally of 3 per cent in the previous session, when encouraging jobs data in top consumer the United States helped drive prices to their highest in almost three weeks.
Prices also responded to comments from a Chinese central bank adviser, who said the country’s monetary policy was sure to gradually tighten next year to counter excessive global liquidity and domestic inflation.
Optimism that the US would support debt-burdened euro-zone countries cemented oil’s gains of US$2.64 (RM8.18) yesterday. But today, the front-month contract retreated 18 cents to US$86.57 a barrel by 0426 GMT, staying slightly more than US$2 away from a 25-month peak of US$88.63 reached on November 11.
ICE Brent fell 11 cents to US$88.76, after surpassing US$89 yesterday.
“Yesterday’s rally was due to general risk on sentiment and positive economic data from China and the United States,” said Stefan Graber, a commodities analyst with Credit Suisse in Singapore.
“The latest data from the US showed that oil inventories actually rose amid weakening consumption. This could pose a risk for prices and limit the upside potential in the coming days, despite the general improvement in market sentiment.”
US crude oil inventories posted a surprise gain of 1.1 million barrels last week, the US Energy Information Administration said in a weekly report yesterday.
The EIA also reported US gasoline stockpiles rose in line with forecasts last week, while distillate stocks fell by less than 200,000 barrels, with projections for a drop of 1.1 million barrels.
But US East Coast gasoline stocks fell 937,000 barrels last week, one of only two regions where supplies of the motor fuel declined in that period, EIA data showed. That helped boost gasoline futures to an almost seven-month high yesterday.
Goldman Sachs says OPEC will increase oil production next year, gradually brining spare capacity on line, following a drawdown in global inventories this year as demand grows by 2.4 per cent, with prices for US crude at an average US$100 a barrel in 2011 and US$110 in 2012.
“We expect in 2011 and 2012 that the transition from a cyclical recovery to a new structural bull market will lead to new record annual average prices above the 2008 high of just under of US$100 a barrel,” Goldman said in the December 1 report.
US private sector payrolls rose by the most in three years in November, lifting optimism about the job market ahead of today’s weekly initial jobs claims reports and Friday’s monthly government employment report.
US non farm payrolls likely increased for a second straight month in November, up 140,000, a Reuters poll showed. The gain would point to an acceleration in economic activity and a recovery that is becoming self-sustaining.
Global manufacturing expanded strongly in China and major developed countries in November, boosting confidence the global economy can weather the debt crisis in the euro zone.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is under pressure to unveil new steps to stabilize the euro zone when it meets today as the currency bloc battles a crippling debt crisis that has stoked contagion fears in the United States and Asia.
Japan’s Nikkei share average hit a five-month peak and the euro stayed within sight of overnight highs today ahead of the ECB meeting. — Reuters
No comments:
Post a Comment