Oil Crawls Towards Gains

Oil...........

Crude oil futures crawled higher today on some fresh buying as the Asian equities surged as a higher finish on Wall Street helped sentiment a day after most regional equities suffered a sell-off. On the data front today, Chinas 7.5% economic growth target for this year is fairly conservative, and the worlds second-largest economy will likely expand more quickly than that, Li Daokui, an influential academic and former adviser to the Peoples Bank of China, said Tuesday. Crude oil for April delivery is trading up 16 cents $90.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Yesterday, it shed 56 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $90.12 a barrel, the lowest level for a front-month contract since Dec. 24. Prices, which have now fallen for three session in a row, dipped under the key $90 level during Mondays session, touching a low of $89.33. Crude-oil futures settled lower Monday, with Chinas move to cool property prices stirring up concerns over energy demand and helping prices mark a fresh low for the year. Oil prices were also pressured by worries over demand from the euro zone, as the Brent crude market looked to production outages in Libya and the closure of a pipeline system in the North Sea. Chinas government late Friday announced certain property-purchase restrictions, including higher down payments and mortgage rates on second homes in cities that have seen steep rises in property prices. Chinese data were also a factor for oil investors on Monday, after the countrys official nonmanufacturing Purchasing Managers Index reportedly fell to 54.5 in February from 56.2 in January, according to a statement released on Sunday. China is a major consumer of oil products and any indication that growth might be slowing in the worlds second largest economy tend to weigh on oil prices. MCX March crude oil futures may open todays session near Rs 4975 levels with resistance near Rs 4990-95 levels. Yesterday it finished lower by hefty 1.32% at Rs 4951 per barrel. Powered by Commodity Insights