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| Commodity News |
| HeadLine : |
Oil slightly higher despite China demand disappointment |
| Date : |
May 14 2013 |
Oil futures traded modestly higher in the early part of Tuesday’s Asian session despite news of slowing demand in China last month.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures rose 0.28% to USD95.44 per barrel in Asian trading Tuesday after settling down 0.69% at USD95.38 a barrel on Monday in the U.S.
Traders slipped out of oil despite some decent economic news out of the U.S., the world’s largest oil-consuming nation. In U.S. economic news, U.S retail sales rose 0.1% in April following a decline in March. The increase was helped by 1% rise in auto sales. Excluding auto sales, U.S. retail sales fell 0.1% in April. That data was published by the U.S. Commerce Department.
April’s retail sales report prompted speculation that the Federal Reserve may be closer to scaling back stimulus programs, especially its USD85 billion monthly bond-buying program, which weaken the dollar to spur recovery.
In China, data showed that refinery output there slumped 3% last month while demand rose 3.2% from April 2012 to an average of 9.6 million barrels per day, an eight-month low. China is the world’s second-largest oil consumer.
Later Tuesday, the International Energy Agency is slated to release its monthly and medium-term supply and demand outlook.
In Brazil an auction for lease rights to some offshore exploration areas attracted bidders such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron, the two largest U.S. oil companies. China’s Cnooc, that country’s largest offshore exploration and production firm, also participated in the Brazilian auction.
Meanwhile, Brent futures for June delivery rose 0.25% to USD102.73 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.
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