Crude ends higher

Prices rise as earning reports boost sentiments

Crude oil prices ended higher at Nymex on Tuesday, 20 April 2010. Prices rose as overall sentiments improved following better than expected batch of earning reports. Prices pared some gains as dollar strengthened.

On Tuesday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for June delivery closed at $83.85/barrel (higher by $0.72 or 0.9%). Last week, crude ended lower by 1.2%. For the month of March, crude rose 5.1%. For the first quarter of this year, crude rose by 5.5%. Year to date, crude is higher by 4.4%.

Prices are still very much lower as compared to 3 July, 2008 settlement of $145.29 a barrel and an intraday high of $147.27 on 11 July, 2008, an all-time high. However, oil has also gained nearly 155% from a December 2008 nadir. That day prices settled at $33.87 a barrel following an intraday low of $32.40.

Goldman Sachs triggered a selloff last week when it was learned that the firm was charged with fraud by the SEC, but the company came back into focus this morning. Though the company bested earnings expectations with ease, concern about fallout from fraud charges was stoked by news that Britain's financial regulator started a formal enforcement investigation into the firm.

There were a bevy of other blue chips out with better-than-expected results and IBM and Johnson & Johnson were among them. Among other widely held names, Coca-Cola topped the consensus earnings estimate and Procter & Gamble hiked its dividend. These reports improved overall sentiments and raised hopes of crude demand in coming months.

In the currency market on Tuesday, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the dollar against basket of six other currencies fell initially but then rose by 0.15%.

Among other energy related products on Tuesday, gasoline for June delivery gained 3 cents, or 1.1%, to finish at $2.29 a gallon. May heating-oil futures rose 2 cents to $2.18 a gallon.

On Tuesday, May natural-gas futures staged a comeback, ending the day ahead. The contract rose 3 cents to $3.97 per million British thermal units.

Crude ended FY 2009 higher by 78%, the highest yearly gain since 1999. It reached a high of $82 earlier in October 2009 and hit a low of $33.98 on 12 February 2009. Crude prices had ended FY 2008 lower by 54%, the largest yearly loss since trading began at Nymex.

At the MCX, crude oil for April delivery closed higher by Rs 35 (0.93%) at Rs 3,753/barrel. Natural gas for April delivery closed at Rs 176.2/mmbtu, higher by Rs 0.9 (0.51%).