Heating oil steady after strong gains

21/07/2009

Wholesale heating oil prices held steady during electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning (July 21st), mimicking the flat trade seen in crude futures.

At 06:12 Eastern Time, the August delivery heating oil contract was selling at $1.6993 (£1.03) per gallon, up nine-tenths of a cent on yesterday's settle price.

By the close of trading yesterday, the heating oil contract had risen more than four cents, supported by renewed optimism in the prospects for commodities.

However, Tony Nunan, risk manager at Mitsubishi Corp in Tokyo, said that the market is seesawing at present as investors adjust their prognosis for the US economy.

"They don't really know if the recovery is durable and they are trading based on available data that offers clues on the outlook. But short-term fundamentals do not look strong," he told Reuters.

Investors will now be awaiting weekly demand data from the American Petroleum Institute and the Energy Information Administration which will give indicators of the world's largest energy consumers appetite for petroleum commodities.