Crude Oil Nears $74

Elena
19 Jul, 2006
New York City

Following Tuesday

[R]8:00AM Oil prices rebounded ahead of U.S. inventory data.[/R]
Following Tuesday’s sell-off, crude oil prices rose Wednesday amid expectations that U.S. inventory data would show a decline in domestic gasoline stocks on strong demand for motor fuel during the summer driving season. According to a Dow Jones survey, U.S. gasoline stocks will fall by an average of 1.1 million barrels in the week ended July 14, extending the previous week''s decline. Crude stocks are expected to be flat, while distillate stocks, including heating oil and diesel fuel, were tipped to rise 1.3 million barrels. The continuing violent conflict between Israel and militants in Lebanon still weighed on the market.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery gained 38 cents to $73.92 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of mid-afternoon in Singapore. Gasoline futures rose 1.75 cents to $2.2845 a gallon. September Brent crude futures on London''s ICE Futures exchange rose 51 cents to $74.87 a barrel. In other trading, heating oil prices rose 1.56 cents to $1.9990 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 10.5 cents to $5.66 per 1,000 cubic feet.


[R]7:00AM Asian markets closed mixed. The Nikkei recovered.[/R]
Asian-Pacific benchmarks finished mixed Wednesday as stock exchanges reversed from much of earlier gains amid renewed advance by the price of oil, following reports Israeli ground troops were moving into southern Lebanon. Investors also awaited comments by the Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as well as the June CPI data. The Nikkei ended up 0.4%, recovering from a month-long losing streak. Tech shares had a mixed performance, with Sony rising 1.1%, Advantest Corp, up 3.7%, while Softbank declined 3.7%. Automakers were among gaining stocks moving higher, led by Toyota Motor, up 0.9% and Mitsubishi Motors, up 0.5%. Across the region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.33%, lifted by strong gains for oil companies, real estate and China shares. China''s largest publicly listed oil company, Petro China climbed 1.8%. Singapore Straits Times advanced 0.47%, South Korea’s Kospi ended flat, while Australia’s benchmark closed down 0.4%. China’s Shanghai Composite had the sharpest decline today, falling 2.2%.


European stocks moved to the upside at mid-day trading Wednesday, boosted by considerable strength in the technology sector. Tech stocks led advancers on well-received earnings news from ASML Holding. The Dutch semiconductor rose 3.6% after it revealed that its second-quarter net income rose a stronger-than-forecast 49% to 167 million euros on 23% sales growth. Anglo-Dutch IT services group LogicaCMG also contributed to the upward move, posting a gain of 2.7%. The German DAX 30 climbed 0.5%, the French CAC 40 rose 0.4%, and London FTSE 100 advanced 0.4%.