Slight Pullback In Oil; Awaits EIA

Oil......
Crude oil futures had a slight pullback in the Asia electronic session today weighed by a report showing that weekly U.S. crude stockpiles were nearly double
Crude for May delivery fell 50 cents at $96.69 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in mid Asia electronic trades. Yesterday, it rose by $0.12 or 0.1% to settle at $97.19 a barrel. Prices traded as low below $97 during intra day trading for most part of the day.
The loss came after the American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that crude supplies were up 4.7 million barrels in the week ended March 29. Analysts had expected a climb of 2.5 million barrels, according to a Platts survey of analysts.
The API data arrived ahead of the more closely watched report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, due later Wednesday. Investors will also look for any oil-demand signals on Friday in the U.S. unemployment report for March.
The latest stockpiles figure underscored demand concerns in the wake of recent weak manufacturing data in the U.S. and Europe.
Activity in factories across the euro zone contracted at a faster pace in March, according to Tuesday’s release of the final Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index for the sector. On Monday, the Institute for Supply Management’s factory index fell to 51.3% in March from 54.2% in February. Economists had expected the index to match February’s reading.
Oil-demand worries during North American trade on Tuesday were slightly offset by a report that U.S. factory orders rose 3% in February, the biggest gain in five months.
MCX April crude futures opened below Rs 5300 a barrel and may find support near Rs 5260 and Rs 5220 levels.
Source by Commodity Insights