Oil climbs after late losses

15/07/2009

Crude oil contracts trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) were up during trading this morning (July 15th), rising after closing down yesterday.

After an early rally witnessed in electronic activity on Tuesday, the commodity lost ground over the course of the day to settle at $59.52 (£36.35) a barrel, down 17 cents.

However, in early trading this morning crude contract rose above the $60-a-barrel mark once more, buoyed by a strong performance from equities trading on Asian and European exchanges.

A poll conducted by Bloomberg also revealed that analysts are expecting that crude oil inventories in the US contracted for the fifth consecutive week last week, indicating a recovery in demand.

The data, produced by the Energy Information Administration, will be published later today, alongside figures for gasoline, propane and heating oil inventories.

Eugen Weinberg, an analyst with Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, added: "We also have the combination of equities being higher today and the dollar weaker."