Crude slips again

Crude ended second quarter of CY 2010 lower by 9.3%

Crude oil prices ended lower on Wednesday, 30 June 2010 at Nymex. Prices fell due to weak global economic data and bearish weekly inventory report by the energy department. Prices registered first quarterly loss in a long time.



On Wednesday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for August delivery closed at $75.63/barrel (lower by $0.31 or 0.4%). Last week, prices gained 2.2%.

For the month of June, oil prices shed 2.7%. Before this, in May, crude shed 14%. It was the biggest monthly drop for crude since December 2008. For the month of April, crude rose 2.8%. 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 5.8%.

EIA reported on Wednesday that crude-oil inventories dropped 2 million barrels on the week ended 25 June, at the top of the range of expectations. Overall, however, crude stocks are well above average. Gasoline stocks rose 500,000 barrels, and stocks of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, rose 2.5 million. Refineries ran at 86.9% of their capacity, a decline of 0.3% from the previous week.

In the currency market on Wednesday, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies dropped by 0.2%. It turned weaker earlier and got a late day boost after ratings agency Moody's Investors Service warned it could downgrade Spain's debt from Aaa, Moody's top grade.

The private sector employment report announced by ADP showed that private sector added 13,000 jobs in June against an expected figure of 65,000.

On Wednesday, natural gas for August contract advanced 7 cents, or 1.5%, to $4.61 per million British thermal units. Natural gas gained nearly 19% on the quarter. On the month, natural gas rose 6%, its third consecutive monthly gain.

Also on Wednesday, reformulated gasoline for July delivery, the front-month contract that expired on Wednesday, also reversed to losses. It lost a penny, or 0.6%, to $2.06 a gallon. Heating oil for July delivery, which also expired, retreated 4 cents, or 2%, to $1.98 a gallon. On the quarter, gasoline futures retreated 11%, while futures rose 2% on the month. Heating oil futures lost 6% on the quarter. On the month, futures added 2.3%

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 July delivery closed lower by Rs 6 (0.2%) at Rs 3,523/barrel. Natural gas for July delivery closed at Rs 214, lower by Rs 1 (0.5%).