Crude oil futures fall to 1-month lows
Investing.com
Published Jan 03, 2014 02:47AM ET
Crude oil trades near 1-month lows
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in February traded at USD95.39 a barrel during European morning trade, down 0.06%.
The February contract settled down 3.03% on Thursday to end at USD95.44 a barrel.
Oil futures were likely to find support at USD96.53 a barrel, the low from December 16 and resistance at USD99.38 a barrel, the high from December 31.
Oil prices remained under pressure after the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending December 28 declined by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 339,000.
Analysts had expected U.S. jobless claims to fall by 7,000 to 334,000 last week from the previous week’s revised total of 341,000.
Oil prices weakened due to a broadly stronger U.S. dollar, as dollar-priced commodities become more expensive to investors holding other currencies when the greenback gains.
Elsewhere, traders were also eyeing production in Libya which has dropped to around 220,000 barrels per day, from 1.4 million bpd in July.
Libya was reportedly planning to resume production at one of its largest oilfields, El Sharara, within three days after protesters agreed to suspend their two-month stoppage.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for February delivery rose 0.28% to trade at USD108.08 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD12.69 a barrel.
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