Crude take a giant leap

Prices rise sharply on hopes of quick economic recovery

After an astounding finish for May, 2009, crude prices kicked off June 2009 on a sharp note with oil prices rising for the sixth consecutive session on Monday, 01 June, 2009. Prices rose as China's economy continued to witness moderate expansion and also as the dollar slid further.

On Monday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for June delivery closed at $68.58/barrel (higher by $2.27 or 3.4%). Last week, crude ended higher by 7.5%.

Crude ended the month of May, 2009, higher by 30%. This was the largest month gain for crude in almost a decade. Prior to May, crude ended April and March, 2009 higher by 2.9% and 10.9% respectively. It rallied 11.3% in the first quarter. Oil prices had reached a high of $147 on 11 July, 2008 but have dropped almost 52% since then. Year to date, in 2009, crude prices are higher by 38.3%.

The Commerce Department reported today that U.S., the personal-savings rate jumped to a 14-year high of 5.7% in April as after-tax incomes were boosted by provisions of the economic stimulus plan.

Also, on the economic front, China's manufacturing PMI came in at 53.1 in May, slightly below April's 53.5 but stayed above 50 for the third consecutive month, suggesting that the manufacturing sector is maintaining its modest pace of expansion.

In the currency market on Monday, the U.S. Dollar Index, a gauge of the greenback against six major currencies, slid as much as 0.7%, following a 6.1% drop in May. The index lost 1% in April and 2.9% in March.

OPEC, in its latest meeting, decided to keep production quotas unchanged, in line with expectations. The cartel, which accounts for about one-third of the world's oil production, decided to leave production levels unchanged at today's meeting in Vienna on Thursday, 28 May, 2009.

Also at the Nymex on Monday, July reformulated gasoline gained 2.9 cents, or 1.5%, to $1.9243 a gallon and July heating oil futures rose 9.89 cents, or 5.9%, to $1.7765 a gallon.

Natural gas for July delivery surged 41.4 cents, or 10.8%, to $4.249 per million British thermal units.

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

At the MCX, crude oil for June delivery closed at Rs 3,190/barrel, higher by Rs 66 (2.1%) against previous day's close. Natural gas for June delivery closed at Rs 192.4/mmbtu, higher by Rs 7.6/mmbtu (4.1%).