Crude wobbles after two-day losses

16/06/2009

Crude oil futures have been trading turbulently on the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning (June 16th).

The July delivery contract started off weakly and dipped below the $70 (£42) mark before recovering as the opening of physical trading neared.

By 04:30 Eastern Time, the commodity had risen to $70.84 a barrel, up 22 cents on yesterday's settle price.

The contract fell $1.42 during trading yesterday, weakened by a stronger dollar and a fall in equities markets. Heating oil contracts also slumped.

In London, oil majors led the London Stock Exchange downwards, with leading shares dropping 2.6 per cent in value.

The partial recovery seen today has been attributed to a weakened dollar, after the world's primary currency was criticised by Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who said that the world needed new, stronger reserve currencies.

Reuters reports that traders will now be looking ahead to the publication of demand data from the American Petroleum Institute tomorrow for an indication of which way oil and commodities such as heating oil will move.