Comments
Oil prices edged lower in Asia today but the losses were capped following a surprise drawdown in US stockpiles and as dealers await fresh economic data out of Washington, analysts said.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery fell two cents to $92.78, while Brent crude for November delivery eased ten cents to $96.85 in mid-morning trade.
Sanjeev Gupta, head of the Asia-Pacific oil and gas practice at business consultancy EY, said “a higher-than-forecast” drawdown of US crude reserves boosted demand hopes in the US and were supporting oil prices.
US crude reserves
The Department of Energy (DoE) had said yesterday that US crude reserves fell 4.3 million barrels in the week ending September 19, upending a 500,000-barrel increase projected by analysts in a Dow Jones Newswires survey.
The DoE report also showed gasoline stockpiles decreased 414,000 barrels, more than double the decline forecast.
A drop in US stockpiles typically indicates strong demand in the world’s biggest economy and top crude producer, supporting global prices.
US durable goods, GDP numbers
Gupta said “economic data from the US on durable goods and final second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) numbers will set the tone for prices” today and tomorrow.
Singapore’s United Overseas Bank said in a commentary that the US Commerce Department will likely report later Thursday that durable goods contracted 18 per cent in August, after a 22.6 per cent increase in July due to aircraft orders.
The third estimate of US GDP for the second quarter will be released by the Commerce Department on Friday. UOB said the figure will be revised upwards to 4.6 per cent from the previous estimate of 4.2 per cent.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.