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Oil prices retreated after touching $78 levels Wednesday, amid choppy trading, weighed down by a resurgent US Dollar and data showing a bigger-than-expected rise in US crude inventories during the past week.
Crude oil for delivery in March settled $0.25 lower at $76.98 per barrel in the New York Mercantile Exchange.
According to the weekly inventory data released by US Energy Department's Energy Information Administration Wednesday, crude stockpiles rose 2.3 million barrels to 329 million barrels in the week ended January 29. Analysts were expecting an increase of 0.2 million barrels only.
Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute had reported a bigger increase of 4.72 million barrels in crude inventories, for the same period.
However, improved demand expectations amid positive economic sentiments in the US limited the fall in oil prices.
The US Dollar pared early-week losses following the release of encouraging economic data from the labor market and the service sector.
Institute for Supply Management said Wednesday its service sector index rose to 50.5 in January from a downwardly revised 49.8 in December, versus economists' expectations for an increase to 51.0 from the originally reported 50.1 for the previous month. A reading above 50 indicates growth in the sector.
Separately, Automatic Data Processing, Inc. reported Wednesday US private sector employment declined smaller than anticipated in the month of January. As per the data, the non-farm private employment fell by 22,000 jobs in the month, lower than economists' expectation for a decrease of 30,000 jobs.
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