Crude ends flat

Prices rise earlier in the day following strong housing data

Crude oil prices ended flat on Monday, 26 July 2010 at Nymex. Prices fluctuated throughout the day and rose earlier during the day following better than expected housing data. Then, prices pared early gains and settled flat for the day.



On Monday, crude oil futures for light sweet crude for September delivery closed at $78.98/barrel (higher by $0.32 or 0.4%). Earlier during the day, prices rose to a high of $80. Last week, crude prices ended higher by 1.3%.

For the month of June, oil prices shed 2.7%. Crude ended second quarter of CY 2010 lower by 9.3%. For the first quarter of this year, crude rose by 5.5%. Year to date, crude is higher by 0.5%.

The Commerce Department in US reported on Monday, 26 July 2010 that U.S. sales of new homes rose 23.6% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 330,000. The figure was better than expected.

The report detailed that in June, the number of unsold new homes on the market slipped 1.4% to 210,000, the fewest since September 1968. That represented a 7.6-month supply at the June sales pace, less than the 9.6-month supply in May. The median sales price of $213,400 in June was down 0.6% compared with a year earlier.

The report also showed that new-home sales for May plummeted a revised 36.7% to a record low 267,000 level after a federal subsidy for home buyers expired. This is a steeper drop than the 32.7% fall and 300,000 in annualized sales that the government initially estimated.

In the currency market on Monday, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, fell by 0.2%.

Among other energy products on Monday, reformulated gasoline for August delivery lost 2 cents, or 0.8%, to $2.11 a gallon.

Also, on Monday, natural gas for August delivery, the thinly traded front-month contract, gained 3 cents, or 0.7%, to $4.61 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 August delivery closed lower by Rs 13 (0.35%) at Rs 3,707/barrel. Natural gas for August delivery closed at Rs 216.5, higher by Rs 0.3 (0.14%).