Crude oil hits 9-month high on Syria tension; Fed meeting eyed
Investing.com
Published Jun 17, 2013 09:57AM ET
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in August traded at USD98.47 a barrel during U.S. morning trade, up 0.4% on the day.
New York-traded oil prices rose by as much as 0.8% earlier in the day to hit a session high of USD98.94 a barrel, the strongest level since September 17.
Oil prices continued to draw support from reports that the U.S. will arm Syrian rebels in wake of allegations that Bashar al-Assad’s government forces have used chemical weapons during the internal conflict.
While Syria is not a major oil producer, market players fear that the two-year-old civil war could spill over to affect oil supplies in nearby countries.
Market players are also concerned about the involvement of Iran, OPEC’s sixth-biggest oil producer.
Oil futures remained higher after the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said that its general business conditions index rose to 7.8 in June from a reading of minus 1.4 in May.
Analysts had expected the index to improve to minus 0.5 in June.
The Empire State index is of interest to traders primarily because it is seen as an early forecast of the national Institute for Supply management factory survey.
Investors now looked ahead to the Federal Reserve’s upcoming policy meeting on Wednesday, amid ongoing speculation over whether the central bank will begin to unwind its easing program in the coming months.
Market sentiment took a hit last week amid growing expectations that the Fed will to start taper off its bond purchasing program later this year.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for August delivery added 0.25% to trade at USD106.20 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD7.73 a barrel.
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Written By: Investing.com
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