Heating oil makes marginal gains

18/02/2009

Heating oil prices have climbed in trading so far this morning (February 18th) despite a bullish attitude to crude.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, heating oil for March delivery rose to $1.191 (83.9p) a gallon by 5:20 Eastern Time, up 4.6 cents on its opening prices.

However, crude prices continued to fall in early trading in the US, with the bourse's March contract slumping below $35 a barrel.

The gains made on heating oil contracts pares heavy losses witnessed yesterday, when the commodity fell 11.3 cents amid the publication of gloomy economic data in Europe and Asia.

Meanwhile, in the US, investors are anticipating that data to be published later today by the Energy Information Administration will show that demand for crude and derivatives such as heating oil fell further last week.

The organisation will publish information assaying crude stockpiles, with Bloomberg reporting that if they rise again, it will be the 19th time that this has happened in 21 weeks.

"We really see an oversupply in the market, [with] inventories growing week after week and this has a downward effect on prices," said Sintje Diek, an analyst at HSH Nordbank.