Oil dips slightly despite Middle East headlines
Published Apr 29, 2013 08:50PM ET
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for June delivery nudged lower by 0.11% to USD94.40 per barrel in Asian trading Tuesday after settling up 1.19% at USD94.11 a barrel on Monday.
A pair of decent U.S. data points helped lifted oil futures on Monday. In U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department said personal incomes and spending each rose 0.2% in March. Economists expected the March reading of personal spending would be unchanged, but they expected a 0.4% increase in personal income.
The National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index rose 1.5% to 105.7 last month, good for the highest reading in nearly three years. Signed contracts jumped 7% on a year-over-year basis. The U.S. is the world’s largest oil consumer.
Elsewhere, media reports said that ongoing violence in Libya is hampering oil production in the North African nation. Libya’s oil minister said production interruptions have cost his country USD1 billion a month for the past five months.
In March, U.S. oil majors ConocoPhillips, Hess and Marathon Oil, in concert with Libya’s National Oil Corporation canceled a contract because of protests that lasted longer than two weeks.
The he U.S. Energy Information Administration said sanctions by the West on Iran have cut that country’s oil output to 26-year lows. Iran and Libya are both members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Libya is home to Africa’s largest oil reserves.
Meanwhile, Brent futures for June delivery inched up 0.02% to USD103.81 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.
Get The News You Want
Written By: Investing.com
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.