Cold Weather Drive Higher Energy Demand, Prices

123jump.com Staff
05 Jan, 2010
New York City

U.S. stocks traded lower as gasoline and crude oil futures advanced. Freezing weather from Beijing to Miami has driven up the demand for energy around the world.

[R]9:40 AM New York – U.S. stocks traded lower as gasoline and crude oil futures advanced. Freezing weather from Beijing to Miami has driven up the demand for energy around the world.[/R]

Freezing weather from Beijing to Miami has hampered coal transportation and citrus crop and driven up the demand for energy. Futures of gasoline, crude oil and natural gas jumped for the second day in London, New York and Asia.

Crude oil in New York traded near $82 a barrel and natural gas edged slightly up to $5.78 per mBtu.

The preliminary estimate of annual inflation in the Euro area is expected to be 0.9% in December after rising at 0.5% in November.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 27.04 or 0.25% to 10,681.83, and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 456.30 or 2.09% to 22,279.58, and CSI 300 index in China higher 28.81 or 0.81% to 3,564.04. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 48.00 or 0.98% to 4,924.30. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was higher 12.49 or 0.98% to 1,288.24.

The Kospi Index in South Korea decreased 5.52 or 0.33% to close at 1,690.62. SET index in Thailand closed lower 0.17 or 0.02% to 732.11. JSE Index in Indonesia increased 29.86 or 1.16% to 2,605.28. The Sensex index in India increased 127.51 or 0.73% to 17,686.24.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index traded higher 19.44 or 0.35% to 5,519.78, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 2.36 or 0.06% to 4,016.33 and in Frankfurt DAX index traded higher 0.20 or 0.00% to 6,048.50. In Zurich trading SMI decreased 30.20 or 0.46% to 6,601.24.