Oil steady after strong gains

24/07/2009

Crude oil prices were stable this morning (July 24th), rising moderately after strong gains yesterday.

During early trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), the September delivery crude contract moved towards the $68 (£41) mark, before falling back to $67.20 at 05:40 Eastern Time, up four cents on yesterday's settle price.

The commodity gained $1.76 during the previous day's trading, supported by a strong performance in equity markets and a surge in gasoline prices in reaction to increased seasonal demand for the commodity.

Heating oil also made strong gains after a slow start to trading yesterday, mimicking the upward movements in equities and gasoline.

Nymex gasoline futures gained more than seven cents during the day, settling at $1.91 per gallon.

Speaking to Reuters, Tony Machacek, oil futures broker at Bache Financial, commented: "The stock markets are as important as any oil fundamentals at the moment. I cannot see what is going to decouple equities and oil given the way they are working together now."