Heating oil makes fractional gains

17/03/2009

Heating oil futures have made a marginal gain during trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange today (March 17th).

After closing at $1.213 (86.79p) a gallon, heating oil for April rose 0.6 cents by 8:52 Eastern Time.

Meanwhile, crude futures recovered partly from a weak early performance but had lost 50 cents on the barrel 8:54 to trade at $46.82 a gallon.

Earlier losses were provoked by new credit card default data from the US which showed that the number of people falling behind on payments hit a 20-year high in February.

Such statistics are an indicator that consumer demand for petrol, DERV, heating oil and other distillates is likely to remain weak for some time.

However, a Commerzbank AG analyst report seen by Bloomberg insisted that the supply constrictions imposed by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would help to support a gradual climb in prices.

This may in turn lead to a rise in the price of heating oil and other associated commodities.