Crude stays low

Prices slip due to rising dollar

Crude prices ended lower on Monday, 22 November 2010 at Nymex. Prices fell as the dollar rose and on demand concerns.



On Monday, crude oil futures for light sweet crude for December delivery closed lower by $0.24 (0.3%) at $81.74/barrel. Last week, crude lost 4%.

For the month of October, crude ended higher by 1.8%. In September, crude prices ended higher by 11.2%. For the third quarter, crude ended higher by 5.7%. Crude had 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 3.8%.

In the currency market on Monday, the dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies rose by 0.4%.

Also on Monday, December natural gas ended higher by 2.6% to $4.28 per MMBtu. Forecasts for colder-than- average temperatures pushed natural gas prices to their best levels since mid-August. Last week, the fuel vaulted 9.5% after two consecutive weeks of losses.

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 November closed lower by Rs 37 (0.98%) at Rs 3,716/barrel. Natural gas for December delivery closed at Rs 201.9, higher by Rs 1.9 (0.9%).