Crude ends lower for first time in four days

Price drop due to dollar and economic data

Crude prices fell for the first time in four days at Nymex on Thursday, 19 November, 2009. Prices registered losses due to the dollar and economic data.

On Thursday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for December delivery closed at $77.46/barrel (lower by $2.12 or 2.7%). Crude had gained more than 4% in the past three sessions before Thursday. Last week, crude ended lower by 1.4%.

Oil prices had reached a high of $147 on 11 July, 2008 but have dropped almost 51% since then.

In the currency market on Thursday, the dollar continued to remain at its weak levels. The dollar index, which measures the strength of dollar against basket of six other currencies, rose by almost 0.2% paring majority of its earlier gains.

The Labor Department in US reported on Thursday, 19 November that the number of people filing initial claims for state unemployment benefits was flat at a seasonally adjusted 505,000 in the week ended 14 November. Initial claims are at the lowest level since early January, but they have hovered above 500,000 for 53 straight weeks, contributing to a 26-year high in the U.S. unemployment rate at 10.2%.

The Conference Board in US reported on Thursday, 19 November, 2009 that the index of leading economic indicators rose for the seventh consecutive month in October, showing that a recovery is "unfolding" in the U.S. economy. The leading indicators rose 0.3% in October after a 1% gain in September.

the EIA reported yesterday that crude inventories fell 900,000 barrels in the week ended 13 November, 2009 against an expectation of a modest increase. The weekly EIA data also showed U.S. crude imports fell 0.9% to 8.58 million barrels a day, and total petroleum demand rose 1% to 18.5 million barrels a day. Gasoline demand rose nearly 2% to 9.02 million barrels a day, returning to the level seen at the end of last month.

The report also detailed a decline of 1.7 million barrels in gasoline stockpiles and a drop of 300,000 barrels in distillates, which include heating oil and diesel.

Among other energy products, December gasoline lost 2.1% to $1.9695 a gallon, and December heating oil was down 2.5% at $1.9964 a gallon

Also on Thursday, natural gas for December delivery rose 2% to $4.342 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 December delivery closed lower by Rs 37 (1%) at Rs 3,649/barrel. Natural gas for November delivery closed higher by Rs 1 (0.5%) at Rs 200/mmbtu.