Crude climbs up

Oil still stays below $50

Buoyed by a weak dollar, crude prices ended higher on Tuesday, 31 March, 2009. Prices also rose as US stocks rallied today fuelling some hopes that oil demand might not wane out in the coming months. But still after ending higher, prices closed below $50 for second straight day.

On Tuesday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for May delivery closed at $49.66/barrel (higher by $1.05 or 2.2%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Last week, crude ended higher by 0.6%.

Crude ended March trading up 10.9%. It rallied 11.3% in the first quarter. For the month of February, crude prices had ended higher by 1.5%.

Oil prices had reached a high of $147 on 11 July, 2008 but have dropped almost 63% since then. Year to date, in 2009, crude prices are higher by 12.2%. On a yearly basis, crude prices are lower by 52%.

In the currency market on Tuesday, the dollar moved lower against most major rivals. The U.S. Dollar Index, a six-currency gauge that includes the euro and yen, fell as much as 0.9%. The index has dropped 2.8% in March, 2009.

Also at the Nymex on Tuesday, May reformulated gasoline rose 1.5% to $1.40 a gallon and May heating oil gained slightly to $1.3438 a gallon.

May natural gas futures fell 17.1 cents, or 4.3%, to $3.776 per million British thermal units. Natural gas lost 10% in March and 33% in the first quarter.

Crude prices had ended FY 2008 lower by 54%, the largest yearly loss since trading began at Nymex.

At the MCX, crude oil for March delivery closed at Rs 2,481/barrel, lower by Rs 17 (0.7%) against previous day's close. Natural gas for April delivery closed at Rs 190.9/mmbtu, lower by Rs 3.4/mmbtu (1.74%).