Crude oil futures off the lows ahead of U.S. supply data
Investing.com
Published May 29, 2013 09:53AM ET
Oil futures also found support as the dollar index fell to the lowest levels of the session, boosting the appeal of dollar-denominated commodities.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, declined 0.75% to trade at 83.69.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in July traded at USD94.90 a barrel during U.S. morning trade, down 0.1% on the day.
New York-traded oil prices fell by as much as 1% earlier in the day to hit a session low of USD94.11 a barrel.
Oil traders looked ahead to the release of fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products to gauge the strength of oil demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.
The American Petroleum Institute will release its inventories report later in the day, while Thursday’s government report could show crude stockpiles fell by 0.8 million barrels.
The report comes out a day later than usual due to Monday’s Memorial Day holiday in the U.S.
The U.S. is the world’s biggest oil consuming country, responsible for almost 22% of global oil demand.
Market players also shifted their focus to a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna later this week.
OPEC is forecast to keep its supply target unchanged at 30 million a day on May 31.
Prices were down sharply earlier in the day after the International Monetary Fund cut its estimate for China's economic growth for this year and the next, stoking concerns over a slowdown in demand from the world’s second largest oil consumer.
The IMF lowered its growth estimate for the Chinese economy in 2013 and 2014 to 7.75%, down from a previous estimate of 8% and 8.2% respectively.
China is the world's second largest oil consumer after the U.S. and has been the engine of strengthening demand.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for June delivery shed 0.1% to trade at USD104.12 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD9.22 a barrel.
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Written By: Investing.com
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